Harry Potter and Vengeance of the Dead
by way of life
Summary: Betrayed and manipulated, Harry meets a silent end. But even in death Fate seems to have plans. Plans which Death itself does not like. Caught in the struggle between Fate and Death itself, what is a mortal to do? Not your typical Time travel fic. And Political Harry!
1. VoD Chapter 1

UPDATED A/N: _Clarifications_: This is a betrayal fic, so of course it will have some character bashing, though nothing more than necessary. But if you have some kind of misguided and lost love for the despicable thing that dared to call itself human and had the audacity to call itself by a human name, then as you have probably guessed that I have no love...or sympathy or... anything of the sort for the overgrown, immature and slimy dungeon bat, Severus 'Snivellous' Snape.

There will be also be some amounts of Albus Dumbledore and Ron Weasley bashing, otherwise we couldn't call it betrayal, can we?

Besides these three, bashing of anyone else (HP characters) will depend on the story and not on my personal preferences.

IMPORTANT A/N: This chapter is written in Third Person POV under the assumption that the third person is a being more than human and hence even when the characters are revealed; the perception of this higher being leaks through.

Total Words: 6922

Written By: Way Of Life

Unbetaed

In a realm that did not exist, populated by those who could not populate and ruled by the One that should be no-one, a recently dead man was beginning to wake up. Its prone form was lying on the land that resembled no feature known to the living. The soil beneath the body was granular and dusty but yet firm and hard. It seemed as if the life had been drained out of the very earth, leaving it as a colorless and endless mass. It's stretched as far as eyes could see and gave no hint that the landscape ever changed.

The form that laid on the dead and colorless surface, motionless since it had first manifested in the realm, started to show signs that it was not as dead as the surface it lay upon. The indications started small; with a slight twitch of the index finger at first, but it became more prominent with twitching and turning of the fingers, thumbs and toes.

As if to prove that the form that lay defenseless and oblivious to its condition was indeed alive, the form shifted its weight as if a person asleep. The shift in weight must have caused the unconscious form to subconsciously notice the uncomfortable position it was in, as the figure started to squirm slightly in its place. The squirming increased as the figure gained consciousness until it finally stopped and opened its eyes to gaze in the realm that it was now in.

With its mind still hazy, the first thing that the figure noticed was the hard texture of the surface it lay upon and how uncomfortable it was in that position. But as its consciousness returned, its senses expanded and became more vigilant. The figure opened its eyes slowly, almost warily, as if due to instincts.

A colorless view met his sight, as he gazed in the unknown. It was as if the entire realm had been bleached of all its color. The sky -if it could be called that- was the same color as the ground; if only a few tones lighter.

The figure turned its head around, searching for something of semblance but found none. All around the figure, the same landscape stretched. The granular, hard and dusty ground was all that belonged to the land, while a bleached and dull sheet was all that formed the sky. As it took in the surrounding, a small frown marred his face, the only outward sign of the confusion that it felt. The figure did not know where it was? Who it was? Or why it was 'here'? Wherever 'here' was.

The figure began to sit upright, but rustling of clothes drew its attention and the figure looked down to notice the clothes that it was wearing. Whatever it had worn before was unrecognizable now; the figure could recognize that it was some sort of t-shirt and jeans but beyond that nothing was recognizable, except the fabrics. The clothes the figure had worn were tattered, scraped and torn. Whatever was left of the clothes was covered in dust and grime; beyond that the rest was covered in blood, making it impossible to even guess the original color.

Though the condition of clothes suggested that something worse than worst had happened, but the condition of the man's body spoke otherwise. The figure did not feel the pain that its clothes implied, it did not feel the wounds that the blood stains spoke of, it did not feel the fear and terror that had obviously came with the conditions that his clothes told about; all it felt was confusion, no fear, no pain, no nothing. This confused the figure even more as it stood up to take in its surrounding once again.

But before the figure could do more than observe its surroundings, it heard footsteps coming towards him. The eerie silence that encompassed the lands caused the light footsteps to be heard loud and clear. The figure turned to face the source of the noise that had breached the unnatural silence, looking for some companionship and some answers.

The figure squinted its eyes for a better and clear picture, but it was hard for him to figure out in all the mist that seemed to envelop the approaching person. Figure moved, so as to stand straight from the position it was sitting in. It made no move to approach the distinct figure, its instinct seeping in through the blockage on its memory.

Time passed slowly, as the recently undead man waited for the approaching figure to reach it. The mist that had enveloped the unknown man seemed to move with him, as he approached the person who now undead.

As the unknown man approached the figure, the recently undead man again tried to gaze through the mist but all his efforts proved to be in vain; as all he could see was the shadow of a man that was imprinted on the mist. Finally, the mist stopped when the man stopped at a distance of few paces from him.

"Welcome to my realm." A deep voice resonated in the empty and hollow environment. It was as if those words were a command for the mist, as it started shifting. It grew lighter in the centre and heavier at the edges as it swirled and moved to reveal the man that it had enveloped.

The undead man stared owlishly at the figure that was now revealed from beneath the covers of mist. Whatever it had expected the person in mist to be like, the person that stood in front of it, was not it. This man looked younger than him but his face told a different story; it was as if it was etched in stone, in white marble, it was so smooth. There were no lines that showed his age or his life. His eyes were hard but quirked at the edges at something of amusement.

"You are doing better than most." The same voice said again but this time it was not the environment it resonated in, but it was within him that he felt the effect of the voice. The now undead man shook his head as if to clear it and observed the man in front of him shrewdly, calculating him.

The man was young, that was for sure, barely in his mid twenties. He had a lanky frame with broad shoulders, a body of an athlete, a swimmer perhaps. He stood tall, towering over the undead man's small frame by a couple of inches. His hard grey eyes appraising and calculating. His facial features elegant and aristocratic with high cheekbones, straight sleek nose and hard jaw line.

It was weird that the undead felt only confusion and not fear or wariness that had seeped in him before. "Who are you?" He asked before he could think and then to maintain an image of control the undead continued, "Where am I and… and why am I here?"

The unknown man almost smiled, amusement was clearly lurking behind the stony smooth features.

"Because you died." The man deadpanned, not bothering to deliver such news with even a little compassion. It was as if, showing compassion was a bother that he did not want. It seemed as if saying those words was almost a chore to him.

"I …died?" the undead said, but it came out as a question. The undead looked down, as if searching within him for something that would confirm that he was really dead, perhaps a gaping hole in his body or a severed neck perhaps, like… he tried to remember, who it was that the severed neck resembled too, try as he might but he could not remember. His confusion escalated. Why was he not panicking? It seemed that confusion was the only emotion that he was feeling. "I… don't feel… dead." The undead said.

The unknown man raised an eyebrow; almost asking what should being dead feel like, but decided against it and waited for the undead to continue. "I mean, I don't feel battered and bruised."

"Death is not meant to be painful." The man said, as if he was telling a universal truth. "Sorrow," he continued, "is the aspect of Life." The unknown man finished, a small frown on his face notifying that he was unimpressed with the question.

Under normal circumstances, the undead would have referred this unknown man to St. Mungo's without delay, but these were not normal circumstances. Here he was, lying on a creepy looking surface (if soil could look creepy?) with equally creepy environment and almost no knowledge about himself but yet he had a compulsion to trust everything this man said. "So what happens now?"

"Whatever you decide." Replied the unknown man, it seemed as if he was already bored with this conversation.

"Umm….?" The undead did not know what that meant and it must have reflected upon his face as the unknown man mumbled in exasperation, "This is why I use reapers."

"You are dead and now, according to the life that you have lived, you'll get choices." The unknown man said and sighed. "You can stay in the mortal world as a ghost..." But the undead shook his head wildly in negative. The unknown man sighed again and continued, "You can take birth again." This time the unknown man stopped on his own accord, not wanting to be interrupted again.

The undead frowned, "What do you mean, I can be born again?"

The unknown man pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation, "I mean exactly what I say. Have you never heard about reincarnation? Rebirth?"

"Oh!" the undead man said, embarrassed now by his question. "No, I don't want that."

"You can also pass into the void." The unknown man said. His voice deadpanned, as if he knew that this undead would not choose this option; very few chose to pass into the void now, unlike the earlier time when everyone chose to be one with the nature and creator.

"What do you mean?" The undead repeated a little embarrassed.

"You will cease to exist; your soul will once again be a part of nature and will be one with the Creator." The unknown man repeated, already knowing the answer.

The undead looked at the man in front of him dubiously; he did not want to stop existing. "I think I'll pass."

"You can stay here then and live with all your loved ones in 'afterlife'. This will be your workspace; it will be what you want it to be." The unknown man said.

At those words, a light entered the undead man's eyes, "I'll take that." He said quickly, too quickly for unknown man's liking.

The unknown man narrowed his eyes and observed the undead shrewdly, "Do you remember anything, from your life?" He asked, his suspicion growing.

"No." The undead answered quickly and it earned him even more suspicion from the unknown man. Under the hard stare of the man standing in front of him, the undead relented, "I only remember a few things; minor things."

The stone hard eyes lost all their light and grew cold; the twitch of eyes that signified amusement was gone, only to be replaced by something akin to anger. "The decision of the soul has to remain unbiased, Fate." He announced loudly, his eyes boring in horizon, his voice cold with fury and hatred. "He should not have had his memories while he made this decision." The man said again while he gazed beyond the undead, in the depths of horizon.

The unknown man then snapped his fingers and the mist that was swirling along his body shifted and raced to the place the unknown man was looking.

No sooner had the mist left the bodice of the man, an unnatural presence seeped into the atmosphere. It was dark, deep and heavy. It seemed that the air was suddenly too thick to breath, and gravity too much to stand. The undead sagged in his place, as the presence made itself known, it was too heavy, too deep and too large to even fathom what it was. The undead drew deep breaths, trying to calm himself. He forced his eyes open and searched for the unknown man, to see how he was fairing.

The undead was surprised to see that the unknown man was not affected at all. He was still staring off in the space where the mist had run off to. "Y…yo….u…?"

The chocking noises made by the undead caught the unknown man's attention and at once the heavy presence subsided, it was not gone but was present at a manageable level in the background. "My apologies."

"Who…Who are you?" Asked the undead, a little afraid, having connected the dots.

"I thought you were supposed to be smart." The unknown man answered. He waited for the realization to hit the undead but when it did not he decided to tell him. "You are dead. Who should you meet when you die?"

"You are…"The undead's eyes widened as he came to the conclusion. "…Death."

"Yes, though I prefer Thanatos or Mrityu these days." Death replied in a nonchalant manner. "They are much more sophisticated."

"Now that the decision has been made, I believe it's time for you to get your memories back." Thantos replied with an edge in his voice. "Shall we Mr. Potter?" He asked and everything went black for the recently undead Mr. Potter.

Death watched as the undead blacked out and fell; as the mortal started remembering all of his life and sighed. '_Can't mortals for once just skip the theatrics?'_ Thanatos thought. He allowed the mortal few moments to stabilize before he prodded the undead in the shoulder to wake him up.

Harry Potter woke up for the second time in the land ruled by Death. His head ached from the rush of the memories that had come when he had heard his name. He was still disoriented by his fall.

"Get up Mr. Potter; I have other matters to attend too." Harry remembered then who the speaker was and quickly stood up.

"It would seem that you collected all three hallows before you died." Thantos said, his voice carrying a little gleeful happiness.

"…It would seem so, to me too." The undead answered warily.

"That would make you Master of Death, would it not?" Death asked, more likely prodded.

"… I don't think so." The undead answered, with a little more confidence than before.

"You don't?" Death asked with confusion clear in his voice but the gleeful happiness that was eminent before was gone. "Do explain."

"I don't think that things that you gave away to trick the Peverell brothers into dying, would be the things that would allow someone to be your Master." The undead answered, confident in his reasoning.

Mrityu stared at the undead shrewdly, analyzing him and observing him. "You would be correct in your conclusion undead." Death answered finally, coolly, seemingly done with his calculation.

"Collecting all three hallows allows you a fifth option here, in your 'afterlife', Mr. Potter." Thanatos said. It seemed he had an apparent dislike for the word 'afterlife' as he made a face every time he uttered it. "But due to Fate's meddling you remembered snippets from your life which colored your judgment."

Potter's temper flared as he heard about Fates meddling, it did not matter whether he would have wanted that fifth option or not, what was important was that he had been manipulated and had not been allowed his own free will, that he was being controlled even after he had died.

All his life, Harry had been manipulated and controlled, at first by Dumbledore and then by his 'friends' and ministry. To break away from their bindings he had had to leave the magical world and live like a muggle. He had to hide the most important thing that made him, him, his magic. He had never liked it, he had never forgotten it and it was what that had finally caused his death.

Shaking his head to clear it, Harry Potter fumed inside. "I don't want to be controlled."

Death stared at him once again, "The fifth option that I would have given you would have been to become a reaper, that what hallows allow."

Thantos then pondered for a moment about the wizard that was standing in front of him. He did not want to be controlled but yet he had lived a life that was barely his own.

Death was miffed at this undead when he had been human, he had cheated him twice, once when he was a baby and next time when he was seventeen. Death had not liked it one bit, it was Tom Riddle all over again. But there was a difference in this case, this human had never once wanted to cheat him, instead this undead had walked into his certain peril the second time.

This human was forced by actions of others to cheat him. This was the only reason that Thantos had not taken actions against him when he was human, for it would have been unfair and Death was always fair. Death might be cruel, Death might be merciless, Death might be unforgiving but Death was not unfair, that was Life's deal, Death was always fair.

Besides this, this undead had returned Tom Riddle's soul back to him. That was one person who had suffered one of the worst fates possible due to his own actions. Mrityu pitied the naïve men like Tom Riddle, he really did; but he hated them even more and Tom Riddle knew this directly.

Mrityu observed the undead carefully once again. He could give this undead a chance but did he deserved it; this would have to be seen. "You mastered all the hallows Mr. Potter, this allows me a little more leverage in your condition. May be I can help you."

"You can?" asked the undead hopefully.

After a while, Thantos replied. "I give you a sixth choice Mr. Potter." He stared at the undead again, his eyes calculating. "I offer you to be Death."

"What?" the undead asked baffled. He did not understand what Thantos was playing at, but he knew something was amiss.

"There are many realms Mr. Potter and in all of them I am the only manifestation of Death." Thantos began, "In all these worlds different kinds of magics exist and some of those magic can actually summon me and at times bind me at times." Thantos paused to observe the undead; he wanted to be sure that the undead understood what he was talking about.

"As you can understand, binding me would cause all sorts of chaos." Thantos began still eyeing the undead, "So to avoid that, I have one of my children personify me and masquerade as Death." Death said as he stared again in space as if searching for someone. "So when someone summons me, they actually summon them." Thantos then tore his gaze away from wherever he was looking and stared back at the undead.

"As of now Ignotus masquerades as me, but for quite some time now, he has wanted to pass into the void. It was only for lack of a suitable heir that he has remained here to help me." Harry heard a set of footsteps approaching him from afar. "So if you'll agree, Ignotus will be able to pass on and you'll take his place."

"But I am not your child!" the undead said. His confused and frozen brain did its best but could not come up with a better reply.

Thantos blinked at that, "My children are those that have been marked by me, if you choose to accept this offer you'll become my child and receive my mark."

The undead heard as the footsteps came closer while Mrityu spoke. He noticed as the tiny form of the person came into view and grew larger steadily. The undead then turned his attention back to Thantos as his overly shocked brain unfroze and started working again. "So to escape control of someone, I'll have to subject myself to someone else's control?" the undead growled out.

"Hardly." A new voice said and the undead turned to face this new arrival. "You won't be under anyone's control. It would be like working for someone, you just have to follow some rules."

"And who might you be?" the undead asked. He did not appreciate the views of this new arrival. '_Why can't my life ever be simple'_ the undead thought.

"Ignotus Peverell, Death incarnate, at your service." The man said with a smile. Ignotus then turned to face Thantos, "Why have you chosen him anyway? I don't see anything special." He then turned towards the undead, "No offence was meant." And then turned back to face Thantos without waiting for a reply.

"Do be kind, Ignotus. He's your descendent after all." Death said with a slight smirk. It was far too humorous situation for him to not tell Ignotus.

"He's my descendent?" Ignotus asked Thantos with incredulity clearly visible in his voice.

"Yes. He inherited the cloak that I gave you." The dubious look that Ignotus was giving the undead reduced a little. "He then went on and collected all the three hallows." Thantos added a little morosely.

Ignotus' eyes widened for a moment and then he sighed. "So you are the one that Fate has been messing with lately." His expression then shifted from shock to guilt. "I am sorry; you got pinned with her shit for no fault of yours."

"Wh-why are you apologizing?" the undead stammered out, once he overcame the shock that someone was apologizing to him for the way his life had been. No one had ever done that, not a single person.

Ignotus glanced at Thantos who nodded in approval. "Fate has always waned total control over Death, Time and several other manifestations. So for total control of Death, she approached me to help her out, which I refused." He let out a defeated sigh. "So to get back at me, she created a prophecy and tied it to you."

"And you let her do it?" the undead asked, seething in anger. He had had a crappy life because someone wanted revenge for something he did not even do.

"What could have I done Mr. Potter?" Ignotus replied in calm subdued voice. "Fates had you wrapped so entirely in her prophecy that no one besides her could have touched you."

"Don't give me this shit." The undead growled. "You are Fucking Death." He screamed. "How could you have done nothing?"

The heavy presence that had left came back at that moment, making Harry fall to his knees. He gasped for breath as the presence intensified making Harry fall completely on the ground.

"Do remember your place undead." Thanatos said in perfectly calm voice. "You are talking to Death personified."

"Let him be, Thantos." Ignotus asked Thantos. "I wish to explain myself."

Thanatos eyed Ignotus for some time but the presence retreated. "Suite yourself." Thanatos said.

"Mr. Potter" Ignotus began, "What would you have had me done?" He asked. "Nobody could have touched you. Those near you were tied securely enough, that nothing we could have done would have made a difference."

"You could have done something." The undead said in a defeated voice.

"No." It was Thanatos who spoke this time but undead was not the only one who was surprised by the answer.

"What do you mean Thanatos?" Ignotus asked baffled. He had carried the guilt since the night Potters were killed.

"We could not have done anything at first." Thantos answered, still gazing deep into the horizon.

"At first?" Ignotus asked. He did not know what Thantos was talking about.

"Yes, at first." Thantos said.

"But since 1995," Thantos began," when Mr. Potter here destroyed the time turners, I have had hope that when he finally arrived here, I could do something to help him." Thanatos answered. "Do you remember Ignotus, when those contraptions were causing Knonos a lot of trouble?"

"Yes, the time stream constantly changed due to their existence and he was unable to control it." Answered Ignotus, not yet understanding where Thantos was going with this.

"Do you remember what happened when Mr. Potter here destroyed those contraptions?" Thantos again asked, urging Ignotus to make the connection.

It would seem that his urging worked as there was a sudden shine in Ignotus' eyes and a hopeful smile on his face. "Oh! I see where you are going. But would it work?" Ignotus didn't want to be too hopeful in case this chance did not materialize. "Kronos hates it; he's never going to agree."

Thantos gave a gleeful smile, "I have been trying to persuade Kronos since that day. He had been very resilient initially but he yielded later." Then his face darkened a little. "After all, Fate has been after him too." He then looked at Ignotus, "Besides, he did not want to be indebted to a mortal."

"What are you two talking about?" a very confused undead asked. He did not know what these two were talking about; all he knew was that they were talking about the night when Sirius died.

"It's like this Mr. Potter; when you and your merry band of friends destroyed the time turners; you had Kronos indebted to you; Just as returning Tom's soul caused Thanatos here to be indebted to you." Ignotus Peverell answered, his hope creeping into his voice a little, while Thanatos narrowed his eyes at the Death Incarnate.

"Kronos is the God of time, correct?" Asked the undead, to check weather his facts were straight or not. "And you are indebted to me?" the undead asked Thanatos.

"Wrong Mr. Potter. Kronos is not the God of Time; Kronos is Time as I am Death. He just uses the name because he likes it, just like I use Thantos or Mrityu." Thantos answered. He knew mortals were a bit slow and so he would wait.

"And no, Thantos owes you no debt." Ignotus answered the second of mortal's question. He had caused the confusion after all. "When he did not increase your misery for cheating him twice, you became indebted to him." Thanatos nodded at that. "Thus, when you killed off Riddle, you just paid off your debt."

Undead eyed Thantos warily, "Okay, So Kronos is Time and you don't owe me and vice versa?" Thanatos nodded again; finally the mortal was catching up.

"So how does this help me?" the undead asked. He was able to see the dots but was unable to make the connection between them.

Ignotus wanted to face palm, but he controlled his urge. More than 1000 years as Death had caused him to forget how slow the mortals actually were. "Mr. Potter," Ignotus began, "What we are talking about is time travel."

"Time travel?" The undead asked disbelievingly. He had an experience with time travel and it was very confusing. "If I were to change things, then too, to me everything must remain the same." He continued, remembering what he could about time turners. "How could I do that? And even if I did, my life would remain the same."

"Mr. Potter." Thantos said in cool and calm voice, "Rules of mortals are not meant for us." He eyed the undead carefully, wondering whether he understood or not, he was so thick after all. "How it is done, why it is done, is not of your concern, right now."

"The matter of concern for you is, whether you would take this option or not?" Ignotus asked the undead. He really wanted the undead's life to be better than it had been in his previous life.

"Yes" The undead answered without thinking. "I'll do it."

Ignotus Peverell face palmed this time at the foolishness that this undead was showing while Thanatos narrowed his eyes. This undead's habit of running into things without thinking them through, were really chewing onto Thanatos' nerves.

"It seems he is not capable enough." Thanatos said as if making a casual observation. "We can't waste our chance on a man like this."

Those words struck like thorns. He was being called useless by Death himself. If that was not unflattering, he did not know what was.

"Give him one chance at least." Ignotus pleaded or begged more likely. He knew that the chances were slim, but he had to try.

"Do not bend to your emotions Ignotus." Thanatos' voice rose slightly. "Remember who you are, who you represent, at all times."

Thanatos turned to face the undead, but his words were for Ignotus. "Death is fair, Death is even." He scrutinized the undead as a biologist scrutinizing a dead toad. "Death is beginning, Death is end." He scrutinized him with curiosity and mild revulsion. "Death does not rushes; Death does not waits." He turned to face Ignotus again. "Death does not forgives; Death does not forgets."

Thanatos stared at Ignotus, "This undead fails on every value. He's unfair, he's uneven." Boring Ignotus with his dark, obsidian eyes, "He does not begins, he does not ends." Thanatos ignored the undead in question completely. "He rushes, he waits; he forgives and he forgets." His voice turned cold, as if mist itself dripped from his voice. "On what basis, do you judge him? He's a liability, if nothing more."

Ignotus sighed in defeat. He knew it would be useless to argue with Thanatos. After all, every point that had been raised, were a valid ones. He turned to face the undead, pondering what to do. He took his time, thinking for a solution, he knew rushing into things was not an option.

"His life was not his own." Ignotus said an idea struck him. "His death was not his own." He continued as he scrutinized the undead carefully. "His final choice was not his own." He turned to face Thanatos. "From such a person, how can we expect to have our values, when he did not even live?"

Thanatos raised an eyebrow at that. While the statement was true in its entirety, the fact remained the same. This undead was worthless for their purpose. It would require quite some time to undo the harm that had been done to his psyche.

The undead had been raised, to develop a psyche that put everyone else above oneself. His psyche was such that it had no worth for oneself. He had been manipulated into developing a personality that was prejudiced, bigoted and foolish with an unhealthy large dose of hero complex.

The undead was made to believe that he had to be rash and act before thinking. It was truly unfortunate that as time passed he slowly believed it too and developed a personality that his manipulators wanted.

Thanatos knew all this very well and if Ignotus was suggesting what he thought he was suggesting then the once mortal man was only thinking only from his heart not from his mind.

"What are you suggesting?" He asked, his eyebrow still raised.

Ignotus Peverell had faced many difficult decisions in his long undead existence. He had denied the Fates themselves, he had wiped out civilizations after civilizations but of all the things that he had done, this decision was the most difficult one. It was probably because at those times his choices had been the right thing to do or they had lived out their given time.

But this was not such a thing, it was what he felt was his duty towards his last descendent. It was what he felt he had to do. "Give me some time." He said. "I'll train him in our ways."

Thanatos stared hard at his incarnate. "Take a look at the undead." He replied calmly. "He stands there still, while we talk about him as if he was not here." Ignotus looked at undead with pity in his eyes. "And yet he stands and listens." Thanatos put a little force in his words, to make his point clear. "Saying nothing."

"He's has been in your presence twice." Ignotus replied a little agitated. "His mind has suffered."

Thanatos sighed and said, "He's broken."

"He can be mended." Ignotus replied quickly. "He can be trained in the ways of Death."

"That won't be mending." Thanatos replied slowly, as if talking to a child. "That will be molding." Resuming his normal speech he said, "That won't be him."

"That would be his decision." Replied Ignotus, he was still agitated. He turned to face the undead and snapped his fingers and darkness overcame the undead as he blacked out and fell.

Thanatos raised an eyebrow at that. "Not much difference from his previous state." He commented nonchalantly though a little callously.

Ignotus turned to Thantos, "It's because of me that he had a life that he had." Ignotus began. He knew there was nothing better than truth to convince Thanatos. Thantos was ever seeing and ever present, after all. "Never have I regretted my decisions as your incarnate. But this time, my choice did not affect me, it affected him."

"He was cursed even before he was born, because of a choice that I made." Ignotus continued. "He did not get to even live." He stared hard at Thanatos, "The life that was supposed to be his, was never his own." His voice was full of guilt. "All because of a decision that I made."

"Do you regret your decision then?" Thanatos asked, his voice calm but distant.

"No." Ignotus replied. "and that's the concern." He stood firm but his voice shook. "I will make the same decision again if I have too, because of who I am and what my duty is." He gestured towards the undead, implying the cruelty that had been bestowed upon him, even when unborn. "And again this will happen."

Thantos sighed, he knew what his incarnate had said was true, down to the last word. "Take him with you then." He almost smiled at the sudden shine in the eyes of his incarnate. Almost. "Train him in our ways. Make him such, that he's worthy of being named Death."

His decision made, Thantos turned and went back to where he had come from. He had things to do, dead to maim, people to kill and lives that were just waiting to be made miserable.

Ignotus watched as Thantos dissolved into the horizon. He turned to face undead, who was lying dead on the ground, and smiled. It was time to wake the undead up. He snapped his fingers and the undead took a sudden breath in, as if a man taking his first breath after being saved by drowning.

"What happened?" The undead asked, his voice shaking and quivering. He knew that whatever had happened to him had been caused by Ignotus. He had heard the sound of fingers being snapped after all and no matter how slow he was supposed to be, he was no fool; he had made the connection easily, once he was back alive.

"There are matters that are not meant for your ears, Mr. Potter." Ignotus replied patiently. There was no need for the undead to know how deep his guilt ran, or that he would repeat the choice that made the undead's life miserable. It made him sad, but being Death incarnate was not as easy as it sounds.

"Why are you helping me?" The undead asked with tremors in his voice. He was wary of the being that had taken an apparent interest in his life and destiny.

Ignotus was amused at the undead's question. "We told you already." He replied with amusement clear in his voice. "You have been wronged." His expressions sobered a little. "We are just trying to rectify it as much as we can."

"So you are doing it out of the goodness of your heart?" The undead asked with disbelief clear in his voice. "You want me believe" the undead raised both his eyebrows, "that 'Death', who is just; wants to rectify for something that he did not do?"

Ignotus sighed, sometimes; undeads were too nosey for their own good. "That's not the only reason." He replied tiredly. "And there is no need for you to know the other reasons." He messaged his forehead to calm the oncoming headache.

The undead bristled. "I won't do anything until I know what your reasons are." He threatened with his voice fierce and challenging.

"You cannot force Death to do your bidding." Ignotus replied as a sad smile graced his face. "You cannot manipulate me." He stared at the undead with pity in his eyes. "You have already been manipulated once, after your death." He sighed again. "You can choose to follow that path, or create a new one." He stared at the horizon, craning his head a little as if trying to listen something. "It is your choice."

The undead stared at the Death incarnate with his eyes wide and mouth slightly ajar. Ignotus did not comment on the undead's state. Coming out of his shock, the undead's shoulders sagged in defeat. "You are not going to tell me are you?" He asked, more like admitted to himself.

"It is not for you to know child." Ignotus replied calmly. There was no need for the child to know that Fate did herself no favors when she tried to take control over other eternal entities. "Now, anyway." He added too softly for the undead to hear.

"Decide now child." Ignotus spoke aloud. "What would your path be?" He did not say anything more and remained quiet while the undead contemplated. He did not want to influence the undead's decision.

There was not much for undead to ponder upon. His life had been hell; there were only a few things that he could really relate to. So, if there was a chance that he could change everything, then why wouldn't he. "What do I need to do?"

Ignotus smiled again, though this time it was not a sad smile. "You would be trained in our ways. You'll learn to follow the rules of Death's children. You'll be fair. You'll be even. You'll be the beginning. You'll be the ending. You'll not rush. You'll not wait. You'll not forgive and you'll not forget."

The undead nodded glumly, but tried to get an answer for question that had been nagging him. "I have already made my choice. Did I not?" He asked the death incarnate, waiting for confirmation.

Ignotus nodded, knowing what the undead wanted to ask and allowed him to continue. Receiving the approval the undead continued. "Since I had already made my choice, Thanatos could not offer me the fifth choice; the choice of being a reaper." Ignotus nodded again; maybe this undead was not as slow as they had considered him, after all.

A frown marred the forehead of the undead as he voiced his question, "If Thanatos could not offer me the fifth choice then how can he offer me this sixth choice now? Ain't my fate decided?"

"Being Death Incarnate is not a choice." Ignotus replied in a calm voice. "It is an honor bestowed upon a choice few in between many millennia's." He eyed the horizon carefully, as if searching for something or someone. "It is upon Thanatos and Thanatos alone, who becomes Death Incarnate and no force, no matter how powerful –not even the Creator himself- has a say in it."

Ignotus frowned as he searched the horizon. "This honor, when bestowed upon a soul, revokes any ties, any binds that the spirit previously had." He then turned to face the undead again. "And Thanatos, chose you to bestow that honor upon." '_For my sake.'_ He added mentally. "So respect it. And prove yourself worthy of this honor."

The weight of what had been offered to him; suddenly fell on the undead's shoulders. He understood why Thanatos had wanted to give him the title first, but had later refused vehemently.

Ignotus gave a small smile as he again stared deep in the horizon. "Now, I believe there are people waiting to meet you." He smiled again as the undead looked at him with a blank face. "Your parents Mr. Potter." A sudden smile broke way on the undead's face.

Review, Review and Review. Your critical remarks and appreciations are the things that keep the little old me alive ;).


	2. VoD Chapter 2

A/N 1: Every action has a consequence. Sometimes it's favorable, sometimes it's not but everything and every action has its importance.

So Dear Readers, remember that. Would you?

A/N 2: I thank everyone that reviewed last chapter. Every review -whether good or bad- is very precious to me. And Special thanks to Far Away in Wonderland for the thought out review.

Total Words: 7009

Written By: Way Of Life

UnBetaed

_Ignotus gave a small smile as he again stared deep in the horizon. "Now, I believe there are people waiting to meet you." He smiled again as the undead looked at him with a blank face. "Your parents Mr. Potter." A sudden smile broke way on the undead's face._

With those words, the greatest change of timeline ever attempted before, began. And its initiation was reuniting of one Harry James Potter with those that he loved i.e. his mother, his father and a little while later -to give the estranged family a semblance of privacy- his godfather. If there had been a sense of time for the dead, then reunion of Harry Potter with his parents would have not lasted long, no more than a few months.

It was weird for Harry at first, to just exist without feeling any change in anything. Everything was just the way it was. To Harry it all seemed…very constant. Though, it mattered not to him. He had -for all that mattered anyway - met his parents for the very first time.

Harry had so much to do. He had to get to know them. To know what kind of people his parents were. He had to talk to them, about himself, his life and many other things. He had to get their opinion on things that mattered and on things that did not. He had to bridge the gap between him and his parents.

And so as the things remained constant, the estranged family talked and talked and talked. Though it had been strange at first for them but Lily had, with her calming presence and her soft caring nature, slowly eased Harry. She had done it just by being herself.

As for Harry, it was the first time that he met his parents, but it was not so for the older Potters. If it was difficult for Harry to see the parents what he only imagined about, then it was even worse for his parents. As though James and Lily Potter had died, they had kept watch on their son. They had seen the life that their only child had lived; the situations he was forced in, the decisions he was manipulated in, while all they did was watch, unable to do anything, helpless in their grief and anger.

Thus the reunion –or better to say the union- was a teary eyed affair. They talked, they laughed, they cried and they raged. They did every other thing that they should have done, had James and Lily lived. They did what was natural for them to do i.e. they acted like a family.

As everything was constant for them, so it was logical to assume that at some point the Potter's would run out of things to talk about; but their conversations never ended. After all, when you don't have mortal needs and have no sense of time, what is there to tell you that you have talked enough? And for a family that had suffered as much as this one, there was nothing to make them stop.

So, after what would have seemed like many months to any mortal, the Potter's finally asked Sirius to join their little group; a request which Sirius was way too glad to oblige. With Sirius joining the Potter's, another round of family reunion started. They talked about all the things that Harry had done, all the things that Sirius had suffered and they made sure that Harry did not feel burdened by the mistakes he was forced to make.

But unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and so did the reunion of the Potter family. After all, a rewrite of timeline was to be attempted, so there were things that needed to be done and magics that needed to be taught. But for Harry it was the first time in his life that he learned under the guidance of people who loved him and people he loved back. An' ain't that just sad.

Although time does not matter to those that have already departed as it only exists for those that live, yet to Harry it seemed that it took him forever to gain Thantos' approval.

It was not easy, Thantos was not someone who was pleased easily; he was The Death after all.

Harry did not know what changed Thantos' opinion of him. What it was that Thantos was waiting for him to learn, to consider him competent? The answer always had always eluded him and his parents. And whenever he asked Ignotus, the man always evaded the topic. Once, after one too many efforts on Harry's part, the masquerader of death had relented and told him that he would know what it was, when he finally accepted all the faults that belonged to Harry Potter.

It had made no sense to Harry back then and it did not make sense to him for what he felt was a very long time. But he did understand it when Harry found that he could not –not anymore- relate to the undead that had materialized in The Realm and had met Thantos for the first time. Though he only understood it completely when he began to see Harry Potter as someone other than the person he had now become.

As Harry learned and improved, the permanent scowl that Thantos seemed to throw in his direction every time the materialization of Death saw him, seemed to lessen bit by bit.

Harry did not understand it for quite some time, but what Thantos had been waiting was for Harry to accept the ways of Death and implement them to himself. To mold himself such that, he would be fair; he would be even; he would be the beginning; he would be the end; he would not rush; he would not wait; he would not forgive and he would not forget.

And when Harry had incorporated those values, Thantos had deemed the undead worthy and smiled. It was a very little smile, just a twitch at the end of his lips, but it had been a smile.

A knock resounded on the door of his room and broke Harry's train of thoughts. He turned away from the window –from which he had gazing at the scenery as he brooded- and found his father standing at the door.

"Are you ready son?" James Potter asked with his voice filled with pride and joy. A little too much joy perhaps as he hid his nervousness. Thantos had finally deemed Harry ready to be sent back and fulfill his mission. James Potter could not have been more proud of his son, but to him, it was a sad and difficult moment. He was willingly sending his child in the middle of the wolves. It did not matter to his paternal instincts that this time, his son was a lion and not a sacrificial lamb. These were the instincts that had been damaged and tattered as he had watched his child suffer again and again, unable to help I any way possible. Though he hid his feelings well. It would not do for him to weaken his son's resolve now.

"Yes Dad." Harry smiled as he replied calmly. If he had been his former self, Harry would have never replied as he did. He would have given a non committal and confused response such as 'I guess so' while broadcasting his confusion and emotions for the whole world to see.

As it was, Harry was not the same person he had been when he was alive. He had changed; he had grown as he was supposed to rather than being stuck in the same personality for eternity. Harry really never understood the reason why he never changed and grew as a person in all the time he had been alive? After all, for mortals change is the only constant thing. He had questioned Ignotus about this but the man had as usual, evaded the question.

Initially every time Ignotus did not answer him, Harry was reminded of Dumbledore and that thought just pissed him off. After one too many non answers, Harry had exploded and shouted at Ignotus for all that it was worth. Ignotus had heard everything that Harry had to say patiently and when Harry had finished his rant, Ignotus had given him the answer of why his questions were not being answered.

That day Ignotus had told Harry, that no one was supposed to answer any of Harry's questions. According to him, it was Harry's journey of self discovery and it was his alone, no was supposed to help him. He had also told Harry that every action of his had a consequence and those consequences helped him in growing into a new person.

In a surprising change of tactics form the ones that Ignotus usually followed, Ignotus had then continued his explanation and told Harry that even Harry's outburst that day, will also have a consequence that would help him change and grow as a person. Ignotus had told him that Harry's outburst had broken any fear of authority that Harry might have had. After all, if one could shout at Death and live to tell the tale then what else was there to be scared of?

"Come on then, Thantos is waiting downstairs." James told his son and again broke his son's train of thoughts.

Harry and James descended down the stairs and Harry's eyes fell on his mother. She was smiling brightly at him but her eyes were moist. She was sad –just like her husband- that her son had to go. He walked next to her and took her hand in his own. "I'll call you both to me very soon." He told her quietly. "Worry not mum."

Lily's smile widened and James' grin grew feral at their son's words. Harry walked over to Sirius and gave his godfather a hug. The dog animagus patted his back and let Harry go, allowing him to walk over to Thantos.

"Thank you for giving me this chance." Harry said to Thantos, his gratitude showing in his sincerity. After all, it was not every day that someone gets a chance to relive their whole lives. Even though Harry was overwhelmed with gratitude, there was a feeling of bitterness that was creeping up on him too. And this feeling was due to the fact that he would be unable to save his parents lives.

Harry had assumed that when he was being given a chance to relive his whole life, that it would include from the moment he was born, but unfortunately for him, it was not so. Ignotus had explained to him when it finally came up. The death incarnate had told Harry though that the lives of his parent's would have been a short one even without the Prophesy. He had told the undead that James and Lily Potter had died because they had fulfilled the aim of their lives.

Harry had not liked the answer; he had not liked it at all and had decided to bring back his parent to him, one way or the other. He knew that dead could not be revived hence that was not an option but he was the Master of Death after all. Even though the title was misleading he still could use the Resurrection Stone.

"The chance was always yours, Mr. Potter. It was you, who was not ready for it." Thantos answered as he smiled at the young man. The child had changed so much. "Let's not delay any more. Kronos is waiting outside." Thantos continued before anyone could question him on his comment.

The group exited the house and crossed over to reach the boundary of the landscape belonging to Harry. The scenery that greeted them there was nothing like the precious one, Harry had worked on his landscape and it showed. The land no longer seemed dead and infertile, instead it was covered in sheets of fresh green grass and there were trees splattered all across the land. Their leaves shifted and moved as a quiet breeze ran across the landscape. Birds chirped lightly while a cuckoo sang in the distance.

A man stood in the shadow of a tree, seemingly enjoying the wind, the peace and the quiet. He was dressed in beautiful blue robes that would fit well in any pureblood society. "Harry Potter" The man announced. "Do step in."

"The choice will not be yours Mr. Potter." Thanatos' gentle voice carried itself over the air to the undead as he reminded Harry of a well debated topic. "You can try all you want but it's his and his decision alone." And then Thantos nodded at the young man.

Harry understood the message but choose not to reply. Instead he turned back and stared at the man standing in front of him. _'So this is Kronos.'_ Harry thought. The ancient entity had taken up an appearance of a man in his mid thirties. His features were soft but had an edge to them that signified weariness.

To keep the matter about time travel secret, Kronos had yet not met with Harry as according to him, there had been no need to. Kronos had not wanted to tip off the Fates and had been extremely careful, even in his dealings with Thantos.

Harry entered in his landscape and moved towards Kronos. As he neared the manifestation of time, he noticed something odd. A few particles of something golden were splattered across the grass here and there. There was no pattern to them, blown with the wind as they were.

As Harry further reached Kronos, the density of golden particles that were splattered across the grass increased and they started covering the grass specs. Slowly the amount of golden sand increased even more and grass blades were submerged beneath the golden sand.

Finally reaching the man, Harry found all the area near the manifestation of time covered in the swirling sea of golden sand. It swirled, it twisted and it moved, all the while its movement created a quiet and soothing sound of sand moving against sand.

Harry looked up at Kronos and found the ancient entity looking at him. The manifestation smiled at the undead gently. "Enter the pond Mr. Potter." He commanded lightly.

Kronos closed his eyes again and tilted his head up. He slowly raised both his hands and Harry felt a surge of power in the air so strong that it almost knocked him over. Threads after threads began materializing out of thin air, passing through the body of the ancient entity. They varied in color, in shape, in size and in material.

The threads passed through Kronos, piercing his body as they did so. They covered his entire body; there was nothing that was left bare. Soon the body of a man could not be seen at all; all that was visible was human shaped river of threads that ran from infinity to infinity.

As those threads ran, they formed no particular pattern, at some places they clashed horribly while at some places they complemented each other beautifully. At some places they dulled the threads around them while at some places they brightened the threads around them. They were ugly if you looked at them that way. They were beautiful if you looked at them that way. _'They are threads of life.'_ Harry realized. "Remember to pay the price Mr. Potter." Kronos reminded Harry from within the river of threads.

Harry was so absorbed in observation of the threads that he did not notice when golden sand started snaking around his body. But he did feel it when something rubbed against his hands and he looked down only to find that he was covered in golden sand till his waist.

He turned and looked at Thantos to see if he should do anything but the ancient entity just shook his head. Harry turned back and watched in fascination as the sand rose and covered him. He looked like a golden statue in the midst of a golden field.

Soon enough Harry was covered till neck in the golden sand and lost consciousness thereafter, but to those observing him, the scene looked nothing different. The sand rose higher and higher as it covered Harry's head too. Finally here was not a part of him left visible. All was covered in gold.

The rest of the sand rose in the air, swirling as it did so. It moved in circular pattern around the pond and then all of a sudden it exploded. For every single grain of golden sand, a thousand more appeared, rivers of sand flowed everywhere. This golden sand ran across the landscape that had belonged to Harry, covering every inch, every surface. It snaked around the train of threads and soon had it covered too. There was nothing to be seen but swirling molten gold.

The swirling of the sand increased as the sand increased its pace. It ran faster, it twisted faster and it swirled faster. All those watching felt the rush of power as the air was filled with massive inflow of magic again. The magic leaped and bounced in the air and at every surface. It bounced and multiplied till it overwhelmed the landscape, causing the sand to swirl even faster; making it appear more and more like a flowing river of molten gold.

Slowly the magic receded and the swirl of sand slowed. It reached its normal pace again and started to retreat back to the pond of its origin. But it did not retreat alone. As the sand left an area, the land beneath it came into light. It was no longer covered in the sheets of beautiful grass. The land was back to the dead and grey one, as it had been when Harry had first arrived. The sand had taken the magic belonging to Harry Potter with it.

Slowly all the sand was back in the pond along with everything the landscape previously had. There was no sheet of grass anywhere, no tree in the sight and the air was as still as stone. A shape took form from golden sand and began to rise. Soon its form of a man was complete and it slowly solidified into the lone figure of Kronos. Landscape was dead and Harry Potter was gone. Sand had left with Harry's magic and had taken Harry with it. He no longer resided in the land of the dead. He was alive again.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Hagrid bend down to pick up the crying baby amongst the rumble of the destroyed house. Poor boy had his eyes closed and kept squirming in his place as he cried for his parents. The half-giant's heart melted at the sight.

He gently picked the baby up and the toddler stopped squirming at once. The child stopped his cries and his eyes snapped open, staring at the giant. The action was so ridiculous on a toddler that Hagrid blinked once and then blinked again just to clear his head, to tell himself that he was just imagining things. But the toddler kept staring at him with those wide green eyes, making him feel uncomfortable.

Hagrid heard a rumble, a sign that something was moving behind him and turned to face the intruder. He searched for the source of noise and his eyes fell on a haggard looking Sirius Black. The man was staring at the destruction with wide eyes, his mouth was slightly ajar but no sound escaped from it. He kept turning his head from one side to another, as if unable to believe what he saw in front of him.

In reality, Sirius Black really could not believe his eyes. The destruction that was rampart everywhere could not be possible. He was gone for just one day on an Order mission, just one day. How could this have happened in one day? How could James and Lily have died in one day that he was not there to protect them.

Sirius was broken out of his mental tirade by the sight of Harry in Hagrid's huge arms. "Hagrid?" Sirius called the half giant in confusion. "What are you doing with Harry?" He asked as the confusion gave way to a frown.

As if the voice of the Black scion was some sort of charm, the toddler cradled in the half giants arm began to cry the moment he heard the dog animagus's voice.

"'umble'ore's or'ers." Hagrid sniffed in his booming voice and wiped a fat tear that was rolling down his cheek, on his sleeve. "Asked mah to bring 'oung 'arry to 'im, 'e did." The half giant answered.

The child in Hagrid's arm started crying even louder at Hagrid's answer. It was as if little Harry understood what had just been said and did not want to go. The crying child raised both his hands and looked towards his godfather with pleading eyes, asking to be taken away from the big man.

"Give him to me Hagrid." Sirius said as he watched his godson asking for him.

Hagrid frowned at the Black scion and gripped the child tighter. "'umble'ore asked mah to bring 'arry to 'im. It's there 'e'll go. Jus' there." Hagrid repeated.

Startled by the answer, Sirius did not had time to get angry, as next few words were out of his mouth on their own. "I am his Godfather Hagrid and Harry's asking for me." He said and then pointed towards the still crying toddler. "See." He then continued in a more stern voice. "Now hand him over."

Hagrid was about to react when the toddler started to squirm and almost managed to fall out of his grip. "Careful!" Sirius cried as Harry almost fell but the half giant managed just in time. Hagrid looked down at the crying toddler, who was trying to reach his godfather.

The toddler turned to face the half giant, as if he had felt Hagrid's gaze on him. He stopped crying and stared at Hagrid with his big green eyes. His lips quivered, threatening another bout of loud cries from the child. The toddler then turned away for the half giant and again started reaching for his godfather.

Hagrid hesitated, the child clearly wanted to be with Black but he had Dumbledore's orders to follow. He was confused. He saw as the child kept squirming to reach Sirius and his heart melted. Well, Sirius could have him for a little while and then he would take little Harry over to Dubmledore. "It's a'right I s'ppose." Hagrid answered. "But yah return 'im real quick; I 'ave tah take 'arry to 'umble'ore."

Sirius gave the half giant an extremely irritated look, as if he would hand over Harry after taking him away from Hagrid. "Just hand him over." Sirius said in annoyance.

Hagrid handed over the toddler to Sirius. As soon as Sirius took the toddler in his arms, the child stopped crying; instead, he stared at his godfather with big green eyes and a toothless smile while he made all sorts of baby noises.

Now that Harry was in Sirius' arms, his attention was once again on all his friends that had died tonight. He felt hollow, now that his friends were gone. James, Peter and Lily dead, just like that. As if sensing the sadness that had befallen his godfather, little harry stopped smiling and started squirming to gain his godfather's attention. Sirius lowered his gaze to look at the squirming child and started rocking him lightly.

Sensing that Sirius was still trapped in his sorrow, litte Harry started crying, asking for attention. Sirius cupped Harry's head and patted it lightly. "I know Harry, I know." He said to the crying child. "James, Lily and Peter gone. All gone." Harry started crying even louder after Sirius' comment. As if he disagreed with what had been said.

"What are ya talkin' 'bout?" The half giant asked Sirius, his voice heavy with sadness. "It is 'ard enough with James and Lily gone. Don't yah add Peter tah the list."

Sirius looked at the half giant sadly. He hated to be the one to break it to Hagrid but if you-know-who had attacked Potters, then there was no way Peter was still alive. You-know-who would have tortured the secret out of him. "I am sorry to say this Hagrid," Sirius said. "But Peter would already be dead. He would have been killed yesterday before you-know-who attacked James and Lily." Really, there was no other way for it to be possible.

Half giant gave Sirius an odd look and then gave him a look filled with sadness and pity. "James' 'eath 'as gone to yah 'ead Sirius." Hagrid informed Sirius gently. He was happy to tell the man that one of his friends had survived. "Peter's 'live. Jus' saw 'im today, I did." Hagrid said. Not realizing that what he had intended as good news, was not good news at all for Sirius. " 'e looked sha'en with everythin' that 'appened, but was right as rain, 'e was."

Sirius froze, his brain stopped working and his body went unnaturally stiff for a moment and then it restarted. _'Peter was alive? Peter was alive! But…but…how could it be? It wasn't possible. How…how did he survive? James and Lily dead…Peter alive?'_ Sirius' thoughts were all over the place. He just couldn't comprehend the fact that Pettigrew had betrayed them. He danced around the real reason subconsciously and tried searching for some alternate reason but he could come up with none.

Slowly, all chips started falling into place and though he did not want to, Sirius had to face the truth. Pettigrew had betrayed them. Pettigrew had betrayed James and Lily. Pettigrew was the reason James and Lily were dead.

As the realization hit Sirius, his expressions began to change. His sad and soft face turned stony, his demeanor became cold and his eyes obtained a wild look. He had a man to kill and his name was Peter Pettigrew.

Sirius was broken out of his stupor by the loud wail from the baby he had been rocking. His eyes fell on little Harry and his line of thoughts changed. He could not take Harry with him to kill Pettigrew. That would be dangerous for the toddler. He could not put harry in harm's way. The line of thought continued, causing Sirius a lot of confusion. He wanted to kill Pettigrew but could obviously not take Harry with him.

Hagrid watched as the expressions on Sirius' face change and turn murderous. He did not like the change in the man's attitude in the least and he was not going to leave little Harry with a man wearing such expression. Besides, he had Dumbledore's orders to follow. "A'right 'nough!" Hagrid boomed in his loud voice. "'umble'ore asked mah to bring 'arry to him. Now give 'im back."

Sirius hesitated and contemplated his options. On one hand, he did not want to give Harry up. But while the toddler was with him, he could not go to hunt Pettigrew. On the other hand if he gave Harry up, he could hunt down Pettigrew and kill the rat. He could always pick Harry from Dumbledore later.

Sensing the decision Sirius was about to make, the toddler increased his wails, his tiny fists clutched the robes of his godfather with all their might.

Making his decision at that moment, Sirius handed the crying toddler to the half giant. "I'll see you soon little guy." Sirius whispered in the toddler's ears as he forced his robed out of the child's fists. "And when I see you next, your parents betrayer would be dead. I promise you that." With that Sirius gave Harry up. He turned to the half giant and gestured toward his motorcycle. "Use it." He said. "It's much faster."

Harry Potter watched as his godfather gave him up and went on a doomed mission to hunt down Pettigrew. He had tried everything he could; he had cried, he had smiled, he had pouted, he had done everything a baby could do but it was for naught. Sirius was wound up way too tight in the net spun by the Fates. He was way too impulsive to not fall in the trap laid out for him.

Harry wanted to cry and he did. The wails and cries of the child kept on increasing, no matter what the half giant did to calm the child. Harry had done everything he could but yet he had failed to save his own godfather from the terrible fate. He knew he could not save everyone but he had wanted to save Sirius. He had wanted to deny what Thantos had said, he had wanted to prove those words wrong. But in the end, Thantos had been correct. It was Sirius' decision and no one else's.

_('The choice will not be yours Mr. Potter. You can try all you want but it's his and his decision alone.')_

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

A man watched from the shadows as a child was left on the doorstep of a house like a bottle of milk. He shook his head at the stupidity of the mortals and especially at the stupidity that this mortal emanated. It was just due to his stupidity and his larger than life God complex that this mortal was the crux of some of the most revolting plans surrounding magical Britain. This single mortal was the reason why many innocent men and women died.

He watched as the man known as Dumbledore and the women known as McGonagall, left the child on the doorstep and apparated away. His eyes fell on the basket which contained a newly orphaned Harry Potter. He stepped out of the shadows as he took a step forward and in the next second was standing near the basket, looking at the troubled face of the sleeping child. The scowl was so out of place on the face of the toddler that it almost made the man laugh.

Shaking the ridiculous thoughts away, the man looked around the neighborhood, as if searching for something. His eyes finally came to rest on an innocent looking patch of grass near the neatly trimmed rose bushes of the house he was standing in front of.

He stared at the point with an unnatural amount of interest. He waited for few moments; the thing was buried deep. Finally he saw something emerge from the soil; it was a small square cube of about one inch square area. He lifted his hand up and opened his fists. The cube slowly rose up in the air and silently floated towards him.

With the stone cube in his hands, he analyzed it carefully. To anyone else it would look like any ordinary square cube, but to him, it looked anything but ordinary. This piece of stone was the centerpiece that held the wards around Private Drive together; it was the ground piece on which the wards were anchored.

He turned the stone over in his hands and softly rubbed his thumb against the cool surface of the stone. It seemed to sizzle under his touch as runes after runes started to appear and began forming arrays of runes. The arrays continued appearing and slowly started glowing with a light that was color of bluish white. And as the arrays lengthened, the glow became brighter.

The scene would have been quite pretty, if a liquid wouldn't have started pouring out of runes at that moment. The liquid was pasty to touch and was dark in color, but in the glow of runes, it shined red. Ignotus held in a grimace as the liquid continued pouring out of the stone and kept collecting in his palm. Gradually the glow started dimming and with it, the flow of liquid lessened and finally stopped. Ignotus wanted to grimace because he knew what the red liquid was. It was red, it was pasty to touch and it was not hard to guess what the liquid was. It was blood.

As the blood stopped pouring and the glow of the runes faded, Ignotus felt the blood wards, start to disintegrate. He smiled at that. It was the one fault of these stones; to maintain the wards, a constant supply of magic was needed, magic that they did not have. So to provide these stones with continuous supply of magic, the stones need to be buried deep, so that the anchor was always in constant contact with lay lines for power. But once the power source was removed, these anchors were left as nothing but fancy stone squares, unable to sustain the ward.

As stated earlier, usually the source of power for the ward anchors are lay lines, but in his great wisdom, Dumbledore had forgone the obvious choice and decided that little Harry would be the source of power because it was blood wards that he was casting, hence the use of blood in the anchor. It was for many other foolish mistakes like this, made by numerous people over the centuries, that blood magic was originally restricted and then later termed as dark to stop wizards from using it.

As the wards around Private Drive finally fell, Ignotus felt a sudden sense of ease in the air. He knew what had happened; the wards to increase aggression had also fallen with all the other wards. He had known what Dumbledore had wanted to do by making every one in Private Drive aggressive towards the infant. Dumbledore had wanted young Harry mellow and easily moldable. And the only way to do so, in his eyes, was to make Harry dislike -not hate, never hate; hate is a very strong word- the muggles and the muggle world.

Shaking himself out of his musing, Ignotus vanished the blood with a mental command and started rubbing the surface of the stone softly with his thumb. His touch seemed to have an effect on the anchor as the runes altered, moved and shifted, forming a different array than the previous one.

Finally, after being satisfied with his work, he straightened his palm and felt as the weight of the stone was slowly lifted off his hands. The anchor hovered in the air above his hand and then slowly levitated itself back over to its original hiding place. It sank in, leaving behind no trace that anything had ever dug its way up.

Far away in Scotland, Albus Dumbledore had just entered his office. He had returned with Minerva wanting to finish one last thing before he joined in the celebrations. And that last thing was, to enchant his silver devices to monitor the wards at Private Drive.

But unfortunately for Dumbledore, he had been distracted -as soon as he had arrived- by the insistent staff that had been waiting for him. Everyone was so happy with the end of the dark reign that they had not wanted to listen to any of Albus's excuses. Instead they had been very insistent and very stubborn. And as such, it had taken Dumbledore some time to dissuade the staff from their goal to make him join their festivities and persuade them to let him go. Thus he was a few minutes late in enchanting his silver monitoring devices. He gave it no thought that something might have happened in the few minutes that he had been unable to monitor the wards. '_It was not as if someone would be able to remove my wards and cast new ones, in such a short time.'_ He had thought. Oh how wrong he was.

Ignotus smiled as he felt the anchor take effect and the wards go up. This new set of wards was one of the last things that he would do for the time traveler, after that Harry Potter was all alone. Though he did not like the idea but he had to agree with Thantos. After all, if even after knowing all the events that would take place and knowing the loyalties of everyone around him, Harry needed help from an outside source, then the effort was really not worth it.

Ignotus had not liked that his descendent had to go through another round of tests but there was little he could do about it. Who was chosen to be personification of Death, was a decision that was made solely by Thantos and if Thantos wanted Harry to go through another round of tests, then Harry had to go through another round of tests.

In all fairness, Ignotus had been through many tests himself. His first had been to ask for the right gift; a test which his brothers had failed. His second test had been the usage of his gift; a test which Ignotus had passed too when he had willingly given up the cloak to his son, after living a long enough life.

Sighing, Ignotus walked over to basket in which the young time traveler slept. He noticed the troubled expressions on the face of the toddler and raised an eyebrow. The eyes of the toddler snapped open and searched for the source which had broken his troubled sleep. The tiny eyes scanned the area and fell on the man standing over his basket.

As the eyes of the toddler fell on the man standing in front of him, a heavy sadness seemed to materialize in eyes of the child. The sight was so sad that Ignotus felt a stab of pity in his heart for the time traveler. "Do not dwell on things out of your control Harry." Ignotus said with pity evident in his voice. "Dwelling on such things only leads to the destruction of everything else." He reminded the time traveler.

Though pity was not what Harry needed, it was the only thing that Ignotus could provide. Their relationship might have improved from what it had been when they had first met, but the similarity between Dumbledore's actions and Ignotus's actions was not something that had helped their tumulus friendship. Thus it was suffice to say that their relationship was not that of any two people who were very close or just close in any sense.

The toddler looked up with tear in his eyes. Ignotus held back a sigh and tried to placate the time traveler. "It was his decision and he gave you up Harry." Ignotus continued wearily. "Thantos did warn you. There was nothing for you to do, even though you tried your best, going against his advice."

With tears still visible in his eyes, the toddler lowered his gaze. Harry knew it was Sirius's decision but he had wanted Sirius by his side, not rotting away in Azkaban. He had wanted Sirius with him as he grew up. He had wanted Sirius with him. He had wanted Sirius with him. He wanted Sirius. He wanted Sirius. He wanted Sirius with him.

Though Harry had not realized it yet, his though process was not very efficient at the moment. It was due to the fact that Harry's soul had been thrown back in time. Thus it was effectively two souls that were residing in one body at that moment and since both those souls were of Harry Potter, they had begun the process of merging. As such, he had two set of minds, two set of instincts, two set of magic cores and two sets of memories merging together to form a new compound soul.

The point to note, about this Merging of souls, was that this process would continue till the original soul reached the age of the older soul. That means that, with the passage of time, the soul that had belonged to toddler would grow and mature with body and merge with the older one. Hence Harry would have memories and experience of his older self but his personality would always be somewhere in between his original age and the age of the older soul until the process was complete.

It was not as if Harry had not been warned of such a happenstance. It was just that when Harry had arrived in his body, the first person he had seen was Hagrid. With the half giant in sight, the first thought that had crossed his mind was that Sirius was going to Azkaban. And that thought had stuck around leaving no room for any other thing. At that moment, Harry had stared openly at the half giant, panicking and thinking of ways he could stop Sirius's downfall to hell on earth.

Although it had initially been just a thought, it had turned into reality when Sirius had willingly given Harry up to the half giant. The emotions that had surfaced in him, at being abandoned by his godfather, were the emotions of a toddler that had been triggered due to memories of an adult. Thus the emotions had overwhelmed him at that moment, as all a toddler feels is emotions and nothing else. It was all so confusing and convoluting that Harry had been unable to think of anything else.

Hence, even after somewhat hesitant words of compassion from Ignotus, Harry Potter could still not accept the idea of his godfather rotting away in Azkaban. His little eyes were filled with unshed tears and his thoughts focused on his godfather.

"It's time Mr. Potter." Ignotus reminded the time traveler gently. "Let's wake your relatives up."

A/N 3: Hi! I am looking for beta at the moment. Those who are interested, please PM me.


	3. VoD Chapter 3

A/N 1: First of all, Petunia's thought and opinions are not my own. I just wanted to give you all a look into the mind of petunia Dursley that I have in my mind.

A/N 2: I should say I am sorry about the image that I am about to present to you all, but I am not. *grins cheekily* enjoy… *shudders at the thought*

Total Words: 9,875

Written By: Way Of Life

UnBetaed

Petunia Dursley reviewed the day that she had had as she lay in her bed, waiting for sleep to claim her. It had been a pleasant day and a pleasant night for her, to say the very least. She let out an involuntary giggle as her thoughts ventured into an area that was not a polite topic of discussion in the company she kept.

Petunia's day had been perfect; she had doted upon her little Dudders and then gossiped with the Mrs. Norrington of 7 Private Drive about the filthy old woman that had moved in Number 10._ 'A good day indeed.'_ She sighed inwardly. '_And then Vernon just had to make my night special_.' And she again let out an involuntary giggle. '_Yes, I had a very good day.'_

The pleasant –or unpleasant, depending upon who you asked- thoughts of one Mrs. Dursley were disturbed as someone knocked on her door. Petunia frowned and then sniffed disdainfully. _'The audacity of some people!' _

She huffed and picked up Vernon's wrist watch from the side table_. 'Do they not know that normal folks sleep at night?'_ Her thoughts continued. _'Whoever it is, just wait till I tell Maria about this. Knocking at someone's door at… 12:17 am in the night!'_

"Vernon?" Petunia called her husband as she shook him. "Vernon? Get up. There's someone at the door." She said with disapproval clearly visible in her voice.

"…m tir'd…" Vernon Dursley's slurry voice replied. Petunia sniffed disapprovingly; what did Vernon mean by his slurred ' …'_m tired…'_? Did he expect her to go and open the door in the middle of the night? She was not some uncultured women that did a man's job. She knew which job belonged to man and which job belonged to a woman. She did her job and Vernon would do his.

So Petunia poked Vernon again, to try and wake her sleeping husband. "Vernon." Her words were crisp and her tone sharp. "Get up and open the door. See who's disturbing us in the middle of the night." She snapped.

Perhaps it was the sharp words of his wife or the tone that his wife seldom took with him, but Vernon Dursley did get up. "Just who is it at this ungodly hour?" He grouched. He did not like his sleep being disturbed, not one bit.

Though Vernon was not as fat as he would have been, had Dumbledore's wards remained intact, he was by no means a lean man. He had been a wrestler back in the day and thus sported a heavy frame. And as time passed and bench work increased rather than physical work, his body fought hard to maintain its shape but it had been a losing battle and its results could be seen clearly.

Thus as he made his way down the stairs –in a less than gentle manner to say the least- the loud thumps of his feet, resounded in the dark. Reaching the porch, Vernon pulled open the door with more force than necessary; he was not at all pleased with this latest development.

Vernon did not know what he had expected on the other side of the door -perhaps one of those freaky people that had nothing better to do than disturb good upstanding citizens or a frenzied old neighbor scared of his own shadow- whatever it was, it was not what he had standing in front of him.

Vernon, startled by the appearance of the man standing in front of him, took in the appearance of his uninvited guest. The unwanted visitor was dressed fashionably, in one those pricy business suites that his boss wore. But what was most ridiculous about the man was the bundle in his arms. The way it moved and squirmed, Vernon was sure it was a baby. He could recognize an infant's movements anywhere; he played with his little tyke after all.

Before Vernon could gain his composure and deliver some polite worded but thinly veiled insult about his visitor's sanity, his guest spoke up. "Mr. Dursley?" He asked in a deep reverberating voice. "It would be better if you called your wife."

Vernon looked at the man's grave face and then at the bundle in his arms. The little dark hairs, that were sneaking their way out of the covers, told Vernon all he needed to know and only one thought crossed his mind. _'This is not good! Not good at all.'_

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Vernon watched his wife carefully. The news that their uninvited guest had delivered was not good at best of times, and with the kind of relationship that his wife and his sister-in-law shared, Vernon did not know what to make of the news.

Vernon knew his wife. He knew that Petunia believed in maintaining her composure in public, no matter the circumstances. But here Petunia was, sitting on the couch, with stony but tears filled eyes. Her face was hard to read for him, as he had not seen such a mix of emotions on his wife's face in a long, long time.

Vernon remembered the last time Petunia had lost her composure; it had been the day when her parents had been murdered. They had just been dating then, but for Petunia, there had been nobody else to whom she may go too. She had opened up to Vernon then and had told him all about her life and all the things that she felt she had been slighted for.

At that time, beneath the sea of grief -that had been created due to the immense sorrow she felt over her parent's murder- there had been one emotion that had stood in a strong contrast with all the others. And that emotion had been dislike, a dislike for her sister and even a stronger dislike for her magic. For Petunia, Lily and magic had been the causes for destruction of their picture perfect family.

Through the veil of sorrow and grief, Vernon Dursley –a simple man as he was- had made a mistake; he had mistaken the strong dislike that Petunia had for Lily as hate. And his whole perception of Potter's and all things magic had molded itself around that one misbelieve.

Thus the result was a man who wanted to be normal more than anything else and had a deep hatred for anything unnatural or freakish. Sadly, both these words were synonymous to only one thing for Vernon Dursley and that thing was magic. For Vernon, magic was not sunshine, rainbows and unicorns; instead for him magic was the thing that had been the cause of pain for his wife her entire life and was something that only had sorrow in bag for them. To Vernon magic seemed like a tool of death and destruction; he saw it as magic that was used and portrayed by Death Eaters, a tool for massacre.

Hence it was a little confused, a little bewildered man that watched his wife shed tears for her sister. He had always –due to one misunderstanding- considered that his wife hated her sister, that apart from all the bad blood that existed between them, Petunia also blamed Lily for their parent's murder. And Vernon was not partly wrong in his assumptions; Petunia did blame Lily for the death of their parents but she did not hate her sister.

Petunia desisted talking about her sister, she disliked being reminded that she even had a sister and Petunia would have lived a very happy life if she did not hear from her sister for the rest of her life. But if such a happenstance had come to pass, then Petunia would have always wondered about Lily. She would have wondered about the girl that she had grown up with, just as she did most of the time. She missed the girl that she had played with when they were young. She missed the girl who had been lost in a world not her own, to never return, when that the thrice damned letter had arrived.

Hence when Vernon saw his wife shedding tears through her cold mask –a mask that always came up whenever Lily was mentioned- for a woman he knew she hated and detested, he frowned. He was confused and it showed on his face, Vernon was not a person who could hide his feelings well.

Deciding that enough was enough, he spoke up. He did not want freaks disturbing his peaceful life. "What is it that you want?" Vernon grunted, his voice containing a touch of anger. He lowered his gaze and glared at the bundle in arms of the man. "If it has anything to do with whatever it is that is in your arms; then know one thing, we don't want it." He raised his meaty arms and waved it in the general direction of the child. "We want nothing to do with it or its kind."

Ignotus frowned. He frowned because he knew that he had adjusted the wards. Thus there should not have been this much aggression in the mortal towards the child. He stared at the mortal, checking for any outside influence that he might have missed but to his great amazement, he found none. He wondered at the situation, amazed at the stupidity and the cruelty of the men of these days. To cast the aggression increasing ward on a man who already had such a low tolerance for all things magic was indeed a cruel thing to do, both for the victim and the person targeted by the wards.

All the while Ignotus stared at the Vernon, the mortal steadily grew uneasy. He did not like the way he was being stared at; to him, it felt as if his very soul was being bared to the man in front of him; it was besides the fact that, that was exactly what had been happening.

"It is with no small amount of displeasure that I have come to you." Ignotus began as a frown began to form on his forehead. "I do not want to leave this child with you-"

"Then don't!" A steadily paling Vernon growled. He did not want his wife to be anywhere near that thing or near its magic. As for Petunia Dursley, with the mention of the child, for the first time she took a scared little peek at the bundle in the arms of her guest. It was as if she was afraid of what she may find inside the bundle.

Petunia had been hoping –or more like praying- that the bundle in the arms of her unwanted guest, was not for them and if an off chance it was indeed for them, then she had been really praying to the God almighty, that the bundle did not contain Lily's child.

Ignotus wondered about the mortals and their state of denial. They had known just who was in his arms but refused to acknowledge it on principle. Denial is a wonderful thing he mused; it can make one believe something that one knows not to be true, just for the sake of one's peace of mind.

Ignotus continued as if he had not been so rudely interrupted, "-But it is not me, who has decided the fate of this child." Ignotus finished with displeasure clearly evident in his voice.

"Then who has?" Vernon snapped at his guest. He was getting impatient.

Ignotus analyzed his ungracious hosts for a minute and began speaking. "Politics is something that we normal folks can do nothing about." He said, trying to placate the growing tension and reason with the enraged mortal without having to use …alternative means. "And politicians are people of the worst sort." Ignotus gambled, taking an offensive stance directly, rather than being diplomatic and letting the mortal set pace for their dialogue. He knew how much Vernon – a normal and upstanding member of the society (in Vernon's opinion that is) despised the fact that other people had the power to make decisions for him. And Ignotus decided to use that to his advantage.

"They are people with power, power to abuse." Ignotus stated and observed Vernon carefully. Watching the throbbing vein on the mortal's temple slow its tempo, Ignotus was reassured and continued. "They are people against whom we cannot stand to fight. It is their decisions that we have to follow. Weather we want to or not. Is it not?" He asked and received a grunt of acknowledgement from the mortal.

Ignotus smiled inwardly and continued, "They can make all the rules they want but that does not mean that we normal folks have to follow them. Now do we?" Ignotus gave Vernon Dursley a meaningful look, a look that said there was something more to it all, than what was being said.

Now, Vernon Dursley was a very simple man. He worked, he earned, he spent and sometimes he saved; that was all there was in the life of one Vernon Dursley. But besides being a simple man, Vernon was also manager at a factory, Grunnings. And his dealing with the inner working of Grunnings had given the man an edge that one developed only after field work i.e. only after one has had some experience.

This edge that Vernon had developed, was his ability to infer what people conveyed by the way of their expressions, their looks and their small covert gestures. Hence when Ignotus gave Vernon a look, the manager in the mortal stirred and understood that there was more than what was being said. "What do you mean?" Vernon asked, trying to find a way out of the situation.

Till now, Ignotus was using politics and politicians in his dealings with Dursleys for a reason and that reason was that Dursley's hated magic and any mention of the m-word would have set them against anything that Ignotus had to say. But Ignotus had wanted them complacent and agreeable, not agitated and unwilling, he was not Dumbledore after all; thus Ignotus had used a common ground to work upon; and that common ground was the much despised politicians.

For a muggle or magical, it was common and almost a routine, to blame their problems on the politicians that represented them and made rules and policies for them. Hence Ignotus had used Politicians as a shield to successfully divert the ire that Dursleys held for Magic, towards the much despised politicians. "They have decided that your house is the best place for little Harry to grow up." Ignotus answered, his eyebrows raised, posture leaned in and voice low; as if revealing a great secret.

"They know that you do not want the child but yet they want this child to grow up here." Ignotus said as he stopped at a note that he knew would leave them wanting more.

Vernon scrunched his face in concentration as he thought hard about the reason behind such actions but could not come up with any answer while Petunia looked pale as she stared in the distance but said nothing.

Deciding that it was sufficient time for the Dursley's to absorb his words; Ignotus began speaking with the same mannerism as before. "They know that you hate this child; that you do not want to take care of this child. They know that you do not love this child but yet they have forced this child upon you. And there is a reason for which they have done so."

Ignotus paused, intriguing and stroking their bubbling curiosity. He lowered his voice further and leaned in, as if he was sharing a dirty secret that few knew. "They want this child at their mercy, at their disposal; they want him as a pawn in their games. You would never love this child and thus the child would grow up wanting love." Ignotus stated bluntly.

When none of the Dursley's contradicted his statement, he continued, "When this love starved child will enter their world, re-enters their game, they would shower him with love and affection, so much so that he would feel indebted to them; that he would do anything they say and want. Such would be their hold on this child that he would be nothing more than a slave to their whims and desires." He finished and leaned back, sitting straight in his chair.

"B..but why?" Vernon spluttered. He knew not that a conspiracy could go so deep, that people thought so much ahead, but what did they had to gain from all this?

Ignotus smiled a serene smile, causing Vernon to go in an alert mode. The Death Incarnate then raised an eyebrow as he asked Petunia "Do you have any idea, to just who your sister married?"

Ignotus waited for the mortal couple to answer but when they exchanged blank looks, Ignotus smiled inwardly. "Lord James Charlus Potter," -He heard the couple gasp and resisted the urge to roll his eyes- "was the Head of the Most Ancient House of Potter." He watched in amusement as the couple's eyes bugged as if trying to pop out of their socket. "This child is the sole heir of a powerful House and poss... Let's leave it at that for now, shall we?"

But his amusement turned sour when Ignotus saw a calculating glint enter into the eyes of one Vernon Dursley. His eyes hardened further and his decision solidified, when the same glint entered into the eyes of Petunia. Ignotus knew what that malignant shine was; it was the same shine that had caused destruction of entire civilization; it was the same shimmer that was in the eyes of most selfish of mortals; it was the same shine that was now causing the fall of Fates. It was greed.

Ignotus had not wanted to influence the mortals through any means against which they were defenseless, thus he had restrained from using magic on Dursley's; but with their malignance making itself known in the form of their greed, he let his restraints loosen a little. With a marginal narrowing of his eyes and with no visible change, a spell was cast on the Dursley family. They could now, never consider anything belonging to the young Lord as theirs.

Curbing the greed of the Dursley family with an iron first, made Ignotus want to curb any malicious intent that they may have for Harry, but the Death Incarnate restrained, he had to respect Lily's and Harry's wishes after all. If they were intent on giving Petunia a second chance then he would allow it. And if in a scenario, things do take a wrong turn then Young Lord should be able to handle it, given his extensive training.

Deciding that it was all for now, Ignotus let the couple reorient themselves as they came out of their haze. "But for all their planning and conspiracy, they are human after all. And humans make mistakes." Ignotus announced. And with that line, he –for the Dursley's- essentially reduced the unnatural freaks to the normal human, at least for the context of this conversation.

Feeling the eyes of Dursley family bore into him, Ignotus continued. "They assumed that you would do what they want, that you would bow to their wishes, a puppet to their will." Ignotus watched as the mortal man bristled and the vain on his temple started to throb; he smiled inwardly and continued, "They assumed that they would be able to control your actions, your will." He noticed, as the still silent Petunia, went stiff at his words.

"In their unending wisdom, they forgot that you could make a different choice than the one that they had decided for you." Ignotus arched an eyebrow as the throbbing vein on Vernon's temple increased its tempo and stifled a laugh.

"What other choice do we have?" Vernon asked as he clenched his fists.

Ignotus did not smile, he did not want to tip off the mortal that it was not politicians that were trying to manipulate him; it was the man sitting in front of him. Ignotus was amused at the irony but he did not let it show. "All their plans and conspiracies hinge on one little assumption. An assumption, which if fell through, would take everything they have planned with it. Years of wait, patience, conspiracies and manipulations, all lost, in a puff of smoke, just like that."

Ignotus wanted to smile at the irony of it all; here he was, trying to convince Dursley's that he was offering them a choice between two options while in reality, he was manipulating them into making a choice that he desired. Though as funny as it may seem at first, beneath the surface it was something else. The conspiracy that this young Lord had started was no joke.

Vernon smiled an ugly smile. It was a smile which a wolf smiles when it finds a lamb all alone with nobody to protect it; when a wolf finds a very easy prey. "And what is that assumption?"

Vernon had liked what Ignotus had said; he had liked the sound of it very much. All those high and mighty stuck ups, looking down upon normal hard working folks like him as if they were dirt beneath their shoes. All their plans, failing, just because of one little scum like him. Vernon smiled again at the idea, he liked it very much. _'Take that, Lord Silvious.'_

Ignotus knew that Vernon was a …simple man but he had laid out everything in front of the mortal, how could the man not know what was he talking about. Well, his own plans depended on the simplicity of the mortal, and therefore, who was he to judge?

Ignotus leaned in from his position, and answered the question. "The assumption that this child would not be well cared for, that he would be treated well worse than an insect in your house."

Vernon frowned and leaned back in his chair, he had a decision to make. He did not want that child anywhere near his wife or his son, but did he really have choice? This man, whoever he was, had made it clear –without saying it directly of course, Ignotus did not want Mt. Vernon to erupt, after all- that they had to take the child in, it had been decided for them by those in the power, the power to abuse.

The question now was that just how would they treat this child that was being thrown in their laps without their consent, with the limited salary that he made?

"Perhaps, there is something that I have, which might help you in deciding." Ignotus said when Vernon remained in deep thought, unable to decide. Vernon raised his head and looked at his uninvited guest inquiringly? "If young Lord is treated well in your house, and I do mean like a proper human being, then when he turns 11 I'll pay you the entire cost that his being here would have cost you in addition to something extra for your troubles." Ignotus said and tilted his head, observing the mortal couple.

At the chance to make money, Vernon's eyes shined. Petunia, who had as of yet contributed nothing at all, looked at her husband, contemplating what to do. She turned away from Vernon and stared at the blanket clad child. With trembling hand she reached for the child and uncovered his face only to find bright green eyes staring at her intently.

She knew those eyes; they were the eyes of someone she had lost when she had been young. They were the eyes of her sister, the sister who had been lost in an unknown world, never to return. Those green eyes of her sister, which had been bright and filled with wonder, had lost their luster when Lily had returned from her school. Though Lily was cheery and all smiles, but her eyes were different, they were not her sister's eyes. It was then that Petunia had known that she had lost her sister to another world.

But here were those same eyes, still bright and filled with wonder, staring at her. Petunia did not see the lingering sadness beneath those green eyes and even if she did see something, she ignored it as a trick of her mind. After all, how could a child, who was not even old enough to walk, show that level of emotions?

Petunia looked up at her husband and nodded. She had lost her sister but she would not lose her nephew. They would raise Harry and the young boy would know everything that was there for him to know. He would not be controlled, he would not be manipulated and he would destroy all the plans of his enemies. She may not love him but she would make sure that Harry grew up just right.

"Very well." Vernon said as he observed his wife. "We shall take him in."

Ignotus nodded and stood up to leave. "There shall be no contact between us until young Lord turns 11 but make no mistake, I'll know everything that happens to the young Lord, no matter how much you may try to hide it."

Ignotus walked out the door, but before Vernon could shut the door, Ignotus warned the man, "You are being watched, the woman who moved in number 10 is a spy of those who have forced young Lord on you. In front of her, act as if young Lord is a burden on you. But remember, Just Act, and do nothing more. She'll frown and be indignant about it but pay her no heed, she's good at what she does." With that, Ignotus left the mortals, his work was over. Everything now depended solely upon the Lord of most Ancient House of Potter.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Sharp brown eyes scrutinized the five –almost six- year old child who was sitting on the couch, watching TV. The child had a weird expression on his face, somewhere between a frown and a scowl, it was as if he was confused, unable to decide whether to frown or scowl.

Brown eyes stared at the child some more, watching him as he barely contained himself from showing his impatience and annoyance. Those sharp eyes shifted their gaze and turned towards the television, to know just what the child was watching. News. Petunia would have frowned in confusion, had she not been accustomed to the child's unusual behavior, but as it was, she chalked up his … oddness as him being a part of … them. After all, no six year old would waste away his Sunday morning by watching news.

Petunia ran her hand over her dress, removing any wrinkles that may have come. She did not know what it was about the child, but whenever she was in his vicinity, she could not help but act prim and pristine, a proper lady to the core. She did not want to be so uptight all the time but she could not help it, it was for this very reason that she encouraged the child to play outside and the reason she had bought him his library card. She wanted to be at ease in her own house at the very least, but she could not do so with the child in her presence.

Petunia walked in graciously, her feet making just the sufficient amount of noise to announce her presence. The child turned towards the source of noise, acknowledging her and then forced his attention back at the screen. She could tell that the child did not want to watch the news, after all no child did, but Petunia had not judged the boy's reaction as a reaction of a normal child, no, she had judged that by the expressions that had marred his face. The way he had forced himself to turn back towards the screen, as if in great annoyance – and it was not the annoyance that a child shows when exasperated, no, it was an annoyance when an adult gets irritated- had told Petunia what she knew.

"There's no need to watch news if you don't want to Harry. Doesn't that cat and mouse show, that you are so fond of, runs at this time?" Petunia advised as she turned towards their wall clock. 11:16 am she read.

The child's face brightened at the thought of his favorite show, Tom and Jerry, but then his bright smile dropped as a scowl etched itself on his face. "No…" the child said, looking longingly at the TV, "…I have to."

'_He had to?'_ Petunia should have frowned and she should have inquired further but as the situation was, she did not; this particular behavior of hers could be attributed to many reasons, but the main reason behind it was that she had, as of yet, maintained a distance between herself and the child, a distance that she intended to maintain throughout her life, thus whenever the child acted … oddly, she did what she thought was best and ignored him.

It was not as if she always ignored the child or abused him. She tended him whenever there was a need; she cared for him whenever he required it; she always bought him gifts for his birthdays and Christmas, the very least that were required and sometimes a little extra; he was a part of their life and it showed in the decorations around the house; she just did not went out of her way to do something for him. It was more than enough from her for the child. At least, that was what she told herself to justify her actions.

Meanwhile, the child found what he had been waiting for and his scowl dissolved off his face. Smiling slightly, he slid down the sofa, picked up a packet and made his way towards the door. "I am going out." He announced as he took his leave. Petunia did not react, neither did she raise her eyebrows nor did she show any interest. She did not even ask the child what was in the package that he had taken with him. Neither were any questions asked in between them and nor were any answers given.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Hadrian 'Harry' James Potter stepped out of the 4 Private Drive and made his way towards the park in the next block. Though it was quite some distance away from his home, he had a reason to head there. And that reason was that, that park marked the boundary of the wards that surrounded his house.

As Hadrian walked towards his destination, he thought back to his Aunt's behavior. It did not surprise him that his aunt had not bothered to ask where was he going or when would he come back. He was kind of disappointed in Petunia for that, but he could not say that it was unexpected or that he was surprised.

When he and his mother had come to know that Dursleys had treated Hadrian the way they did, under the influence of wards Dumbledore had cast, they had had a hope that maybe, just maybe, there was a chance that Petunia would have treated Harry better, that Petunia did not hate her sister, that maybe there was redemption for Petunia. It was for this very reason they had asked Ignotus not to use magic on the muggle couple.

Hadrian scrunched up his face and sighed, though he was treated much better than the last time in the Dursley household, he still was not loved. He knew it should not matter to him, he was part grown man after all, but there was a part of him that was in reality, just a six year old; and that part of him craved love and acceptance.

But all was not bad for Hadrian, the acceptance that he did not get from the muggle couple; he got from his cousin Dudley. No longer was Dudley a fat pudgy boy who enjoyed bulling others, instead he was quite a sociable person who regarded Hadrian as his brother.

Hadrian pondered upon the reason why there was such a huge change in Dudley this time around while his parents did not show changes to such a degree. Thinking back, he found much dissimilarity in the upbringing of Dudley from the last time. While the Dursley couple did love their son, they did not pamper him. They did not shower him with gifts nor did they let his mean streak manifest into something more.

Hadrian remembered the time when Dudley had started to become mean, he did not know why she did it this time, but he remembered Petunia crushing her son's immoral tendency with an iron fist. Petunia had been fair to him this time, Hadrian knew that, and maybe it was the reason why Dudley had turned out as he did. Maybe Petunia's drive to treat Hadrian fairly –though not lovingly- had molded Dudley's upbringing such that Petunia had been more fair than biased. And maybe this tendency of his mother had brought out nicer traits of Dudley's personality rather than uglier ones. It may have been the case, but again, it may have been not. Who knew?

Speaking of different ways in which this timeline differed from his previous one, Hadrian thought back to the changes he had intentionally made all across the globe, as phase 1 of his plan to distort the timeline. It was aim of his plan, to distort, destroy and mutilate the timeline to such a degree, that it would no longer resemble his own.

Hadrian had a reason for such an ambitious aim; an aim that some would call dangerous and stupid even. After all, to switch something known and certain for something that was unknown and uncertain, and had a potential to backfire, was stupid at best and destructive at its worst, but for Hadrian, it was not so. He had planned for this very purpose, the uncertainty due to the unknown would give birth to chaos, and what a wonderful thing was chaos when it affected one's enemy.

Hadrian was not a fool, he knew that chaos was a double edged sword; it may cut through him just as swiftly as it would cut though Fates, but it was a risk that he was willing to take; for if he played it right, then pros would outweigh the cons.

The chaos that he had created would slowly, ever so slowly, destroy the careful meddling of the Fates, keeping them busy.

And keeping the immortal sisters busy was necessary, very necessary indeed. For Hadrian had no doubt that if all of a sudden, out of nowhere, one Harry James Potter started to change people around him and the events crafted by the Fates, then Fates would be attracted. And he knew it would not take the immortal sisters much time to figure out just why a mortal was not acting according their wishes that why and how had their puppet had broken its strings. And he did not want that, at least not now.

If and when, Hadrian decided to take on Fates, he would do it with caution and much needed power, both, political and magical, to counter whatever meddling Fates would do and even then it would be a hard fought battle, with its outcome uncertain. No, he did not need that; he could not and would not take the immortal sisters one on one. That would be a very foolish mistake, a mistake that he could dare not make. No, he needed to distract them, to keep them busy and this was where his plan came in, this is where chaos would work.

The sweet little thing that was chaos would keep Fates busy; they would be fighting his changes all around the world, a battle on multiple fronts, stretched all across the globe. Yes, that was what Hadrian needed and that was what he had done.

Why give the ball in your enemy's hands when you could keep it in yours? Why would he give up the leverage that his plan provided him? It was a leverage that would profit him greatly. And leverage was the factor that that he would be choosing the battles that need to fought and he would be choosing the fields where they would fight. Yes, that was why he had chosen to create chaos, for chaos would be his ultimate weapon. Indeed it was a dangerous weapon with a potential for great backlash, but it was a weapon that was much more dangerous against his enemy.

Though his plan was wonderful, beautiful even, but it was not something that was easily enforced. He had to disrupt the balance to give birth to chaos, for everything aimed for a state of balance, and to go against that had been difficult to say the least. But he had not given in, he had manipulated, blackmailed his way to achieve his goal, but achieve his goal he did.

To achieve his goal, he had saved many world leaders that Fate had deemed dead. He had contacted them –not directly of course- before their deaths and warned them and then he had made sure that they lived -this was the step where he had to use manipulations and blackmail to achieve his goal- some morons had ignored him, taking him as hoax. It had not been an easy task but it was what that had been needed to be done.

In the end, his hard work had bore fruit, and chaos had reigned, destroying all the carefully laid plans of the three great bitches in the process. Those leaders that had lived had changed histories and destroyed the roadmap that Fates had created for their countries.

Though Hadrian had to add good measure of paranoia in many of them so that they paid more attention towards their security, some of them had been pure reckless. Moody would have rather killed them himself than waste his time in helping them save their asses.

Hadrian chuckled at the thought and reveled in the success that he had had till now with beautiful execution of his first course of action. But now that the phase 1 was progressing nicely, its success brought another issue into light and it was for this very issue that today's journey was being made.

With success execution of phase 1, it was time for Hadrian to engage phase 2. And what a marvelous creation was phase 2. Inspired by the double edged sword called Chaos -the sweet little thing that it was- Hadrian planned to change the dynamics of politics in Magical Britain with it.

With the plans that he had made, he was going to give many politicians headache for quite some time.

He chuckled gleefully at the thought but soon he reached his destination and brushed all those thoughts aside as he crossed the boundary of the wards. He concentrated on a picture in his mind and turned on his heels. There was a slight pop and Hadrian Potter apparated away from Private Drive.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

With a slight pop, Hadrian apparated in a dirty alley behind Leaky Cauldron. He messed up his hair, making sure that his scar was hidden beneath his bangs; he did not plan to be recognized anytime soon. Making use of his limited metamorphmagus ability, he changed his physical features a bit, nothing major, just a little here a little there, to make sure that he did not look like a carbon copy of young James Potter.

Hadrian had been elated with joy when he had found out that he had metamorphmagus ability but that joy had soon turned into frustration, when he found that his ability was limited, very limited. He remembered that in the previous timeline too, he had this ability –when he had re-grown his hair, after the horrible haircut that Petunia had given him- but in that timeline, no one had been there to tell him what it was or what he could do with it. At that time, he had considered it –to quote Petunia- a part of his freakishness.

It had been such a disappointment for Hadrian to find that he would never be doing tricks like Tonks -who had the full fledged gift of being a metamorphmagus as compared to his restricted and partial gift- the maximum he could use his ability, was to alter his facial features and change his hair, anything more than that was simply not possible for him. He sighed; his ability could not even hide his scar.

Satisfied that he would not be recognized anytime soon, Hadrian held his package as he entered the pub and made his way towards the barkeeper, Tom. The man smiled at the child, showing his crocked teeth. "Somethin' yeh need lad?" He asked and looked around for the child's parent. Finding no one, he turned towards the child and frowned slightly. "…an' where's yeh parent's lad?"

Hadrian smiled brightly as he puffed up his tiny chest, straightened his back and held his head high. His plan was to pretend to be a child who had been trusted by his parents to run an errand for the first time. Hadrian knew it was not much of a cover but he also knew that how proud children are of these small, small accomplishments and how important it is for them to complete these tasks to prove themselves; after all he had seen Petunia do the very thing to him and Dudley.

Perfectly imitating the stance of a child who was on a mission, Hadrian stared at the old barkeeper. Slowly, his smile decreased a littler as his stance turned serious. Answering the barkeeper's question, he said, "Mum told me to fetch her potions. From the apot… apothary…"

"Apothecary?" Tom guessed as he raised as eyebrow. Hadrian nodded his head excitedly, again smiling brightly. Tom eyed the child for a moment and smiled at the child's enthusiasm. "Yeh 'ere alone fer 'irst time lad?" Hadrian again nodded eagerly and the old barkeeper laughed lightly at the child's display of zeal.

Tom always loved it when parents send their children to run an errand for the first time. Oh how exited they always are! These little men on their missions. Always nodding excitedly at everything and shuffling on their tiny feet when impatient. He chuckled again and addressed the child, "Let's get yeh to alley then, shall we?" Again Hadrian nodded his head quite enthusiastically and again the old barkeeper chuckled, remembering his own children.

The barkeeper led Hadrian to the hidden gateway and tapped the proper bricks with his wand. He turned towards Harry as the bricks began moving, wanting to see the child's reaction at being in the magical alley alone for the first time. It always made his day to see children's reaction when they realize just how free they are.

Hadrian's eyes widened –and it was not an act- as he watched the magical alley emerge from behind the gateway as it melted away. He had missed the place, the whole magical world in fact, for the way it interacted with his magic and made him feel at home, though he could not say the same thing about the people that inhabited the hidden world.

It had been quite some time since Hadrian had last entered the alley, what with Dumbledore and the thrice damned Order practically forcing him in house arrest and later with his self exile to muggle London, he had barely been in presence of anything magic. He smiled brightly as magic washed over him, snaking around him and dancing on his skin, it made him feel at home, at peace.

"Well, run 'long now lad. Yeh don' wanna be late, do yeh?" Tom voice brought Hadrian out of his musings. The child nodded eagerly but still stared at the alley with wide eyes. The barkeeper chuckled but made his way back towards his station.

The old bartender's retreat, snapped Hadrian out of his nostalgia. He remembered that he had to come to this place for a reason, and that reason was not to stare at the magical alley like a dumb struck fool. He composed himself and placed a notice-me-not charm on himself (not anything too strong, but it would keep out everyone except anyone curious), he did not want to attract any unwanted attention; though his bluff had worked well enough on the bartender but it was not necessary that it would work similarly on someone who took an interest in the lonely boy roaming about himself in the alley.

Hadrian turned towards the packet that he had brought with him, but he stopped as his eyes caught sight of someone that he had known very well in his last life. A witch, formidable enough to make men quiver in fear when angry, strutted around the alley, finishing whatever business that had brought her here. Looking at her, one may either infer that she was in her late fifties or in her eighties –one could never tell with the magicals- but Hadrian knew for sure that the woman was in her early seventies.

The witch was dressed immaculately in the traditional wizard wear, a dress robe and a pointed hat, her hat –which had some sort of charmed avian, perched on it- and was as formidable as her, seemed to glare at anyone who dared to come too close to her charge.

And indeed the woman had a charge, a round pudgy boy, no older than six perhaps, trailed behind the woman dutifully but the contrast between the two could not have been starker. While she held herself with a grace that one mostly associated with nobility, the boy was clumsy on his feet as if uncomfortable in his own body. The witch held her head high with pride for being who she was, but the boy's head was downcast as if he was ashamed for being who he was. Where, she had her back straight, very similar to her nature of being unbend and unyielding, the boy's back was bend and round, and his shoulders seemed to sag inwards as he tried to shy away from the world.

Hadrian scowled as his eyes followed the pair, the boy had been one of the very few people who had been true to him till the very end and seeing him in such a state, caused his anger to flare up. And flare up it did, like a lioness roaring to protect its cubs; at the state of his would be friend, at his condition. He was angry, beyond angry, but not the matriarch, no, he was angry at the self styled Dark Lord who was the cause (directly or indirectly) for his friend's helpless state. Hadrian composed himself; there was no need for him to act like an irrational child –though he was part one himself- instead of trying to salvage the situation.

Deciding that a detour was necessary form his original plans, Hadrian started following the boy who was once his friend. They entered a nursery, Greengrass Greeneries, and Hadrian dutifully followed them, hiding behind his notice-me-not charm.

The shop was more of a gallery than a room; the front door had brought them to the receptionist's desk occupied by a brunette who looked to be around in her forties, but again one could never really tell with magicals. Behind the receptionist's was another door, leading to real nursery most probably. As the older witch began chatting with brunette occupying the desk, the child looked around the shop with wide eyes. If one were to read the child's expression, then what they would find would be wonder and excitement.

The child shuffled his feet and squirmed for a while and then slowly –as if afraid- cleared his throat to attract the older witch's attention. The witch in question paused in her exchange and turned around to face the child with a single eyebrow raised in question, "Yes?" She asked.

The child visibly swallowed as he stared at the witch. "M…May I go to the nursery, G…grandmother?" He finally stuttered meekly. The woman looked at the child, disappointed at his stutter but nodded stiffly in acknowledgement. The child smiled tightly, a little relieved and then ran past the receptionist, through the second door.

Hadrian followed the boy and dropped his charm when he was out of sight of the witches. He looked around and indeed, the second door had led him to a nursery.

The nursery was quit spacious –liberal use of space expansion charm had been done, no doubt- and was filled with different types of plants all around. Though there seemed to be some sort of magical barrier that separated the more dangerous plants form the rest. He found the boy –whom he had followed- suspiciously close the magical barrier. He ignored the boy for now, no need to raise suspicion by approaching him as soon as he left his grandmother's side.

Hadrian roamed around, looking at the plants while he formulated a good enough plan –with good enough reason and good enough base- to approach the boy. He noticed that the other boy had noticed him but Hadrian chose to ignore the other child at the moment. He had to plan and plan he would; this Harry or better to say Hadrian did not just rush into things, he planned and then acted upon those plans, even for small things like this.

Hadrian saw the other boy scrutinizing an underdeveloped sapling and a plan began to develop in his mind. He started looking around as if searching for something specific, all the while he moved near the boy, discreetly of course. The other boy paid him no mind though, busy in his own little world.

Finally, Hadrian was near enough that his actions were easily visible to the other boy. Utilizing the opportunity, he started to act as an undecided child, putting his plan in motion.

Hadrian stared at a plant, scrunching his face as if in confusion. Slowly, as if deciding something, he moved as if to pick up the potted plant but then at the last minute, shook his head vigorously in a 'no' and moved ahead to another plant. He repeated this process a couple of times, till he was certain that the other boy had seen him and that he was quite near the other boy.

Hadrian repeated the process again but this time he picked up an under developed sapling, and as expected, he saw the other boy cringe at his decision. Hadrian turned towards the other boy, a slight frown marring his face. He looked down at the plant and then at the other boy. "What?" He asked. "Something wrong with this one?" He enquired further. Oh! He knew just what exactly was wrong with the sapling he had picked but he did need an ice breaker.

The other boy looked at him with wide eyes and tried to say something but all he could manage was unintelligent mumble. Hadrian sighed, he knew his friend was introvert but not to this level. It may have due to the fact that the other boy still thought of himself as a squib rather than a powerful wizard that he was. Maybe that was it, he decided.

"It's my aunt's birthday tomorrow." Hadrian said, catching the other boy's attention. "And she likes her plants very much. I do not like them that much though." He scrunched his face in distaste but composed himself soon enough. "I hope she likes it." He finished as he looked down at the plant with a hopeful expression etched across his face.

The other boy mumbled something, a little louder this time though.

"Huh! You said something?" Hadrian asked looking up.

The boy took a breath in as if steeling his resolve but his voice still remained somewhat meek. "I…I said that that one is not mature yet." He said while he averted his eyes. "It would not be a very good present."

Hadrian looked down at the plant scrunching his face as he did so. Smirking mentally as his face still showed confusion, he looked at the boy again. "You seem to know about plants." He stated, not wanting the other boy to contradict it, he continued, "Would you help me pick up one for her?" He finished with big doe eyes full of hope. He knew his puppy dog eyes were good.

The other boy seemed to hesitate a bit, unsure of himself and his capability. "…Um…okay."

And then they began chatting. Soon enough, the other boy had opened up a bit, excited to talk about one thing that always calmed him. Hadrian smiled, his plan had worked, not only had his soon to be friend opened up a bit but he was also beginning to get comfortable around him. His plan to start off a friendship had worked spectacularly, if he may say so himself.

But it did not last long; Hadrian had places to go and wok that need to be done. He had spent much of his time cajoling other boy out of his shyness and now he needed to hurry. Thus soon Hadrian was prepared to take his leave. "I'll owl you then, if she likes her gift or not, my aunt that is." Harry told the boy and smiled. The other boy nodded slowly, "…I'll like that." He said with a hesitant smile.

Hadrian offered his hand, "I am James by the way." He smiled, not feeling guilty at giving his middle name, it was not as if he was lying, it was still his name after all, middle or not. To the part of his personality that was a grown man, that reasoning did not sounded as good as it did to him, but it sounded very good to the part of his personality that was a six year old.

The other boy took the offered hand and smiled back, though shyly. "Neville." He offered his name. Hadrian grinned at him, his plan had worked; it had worked indeed.

"I'll be going then." He said as he took his leave. "I'll wait for your reply." And with that he left Neville alone. Though on his way out, he did discreetly leave the plant that Neville had picked up for him in nursery, he had no intention to find out just what precautions did the store had in place to stop thievery.

Hadrian casted a notice-me-not on himself, when he saw that Neville was no longer watching him, and with that he left Greengrass Greeneries, without alerting the two older witched that he had ever been there.

Leaving the store, Hadrian found a dark alley and went in discreetly. He opened the packet that he had brought with him and took out a cloak and a pair of gloves. Adorning them, he hid his face in its hood, it was his first contingency plan –his second being his changed facial features- in case his notice-me-not failed earlier than he desired, and made his way towards the most notorious part of Daigon alley, Knockturn alley.

Hadrian was on his guard as he entered the infamous alley; it did not matter to him that his destination was just the third shop in the alley, not far inside enough to be considered dangerous but Hadrian did not want to take any chances.

Some would call him paranoid but it was not a decision that he had taken lightly; this decision of his was a result of the two personalities that were merging inside him, too slowly in his opinion though. The man inside him, one who had trained under the watchful eye of Death itself, was confident and cautious but child in him, one who had barely seen six change of seasons, was scared of entering a place that he knew was dangerous to say the least.

Hadrian entered the shop, a dingy looking place, and was instantly hit by the various disgusting smell that were characteristic of an apothecary, he held back a grimace.

The thin man sitting behind the counter looked up -informed by his wards, most probably, that someone had entered his shop- expecting to find a customer but he found none. He narrowed his eyes, searching for the tell tale signs of disillusionment charm or of notice-me-not charm; one just does not ignore their wards when they have a shop in Knockturn. He found his eyes averted constantly and focused at that very spot.

Hadrian felt his notice-me-not charm dissolve and he nodded at the shopkeeper, acknowledging him. The shopkeeper nodded stiffly, acknowledging him in return. Hadrian moved ahead and passed a slip to the shifty looking man. There was not much written on the slip except four words. _'Aging elixir twenty doses.'_

If the shopkeeper was surprised at his demand he hid it well and went inside to bring the specified potion. Hadrian could have charmed his voice to sound older or plain different, but his magic was still not as stable as he would have preferred, hence the contingencies.

The man came back and Hadrian offered him money, muggle money to be precise, and man stared at him, his ugly face starting to shift into a sneer. Hadrian let out a grown, an inhuman, animalistic growl and the shopkeeper schooled his features immediately, wary of the creature standing in front of him. He accepted the money but did not return any change, a compromise for accepting muggle money. Hadrian nodded as he accepted the vials. He reapplied the notice-me-not charm and left the shop and then the Knockturn alley.

After finding a dark enough corner, Hadrian removed the cloak and gloves and let the charm drop. He stuffed them in his packet and strolled toward the leaky cauldron, as happy as any child who had just finished his first errand, his act complete down to the skips in his steps.

Hadrian smiled brightly at the old bartender as he showed Tom the vials. The bartender returned his smile and nodded, chuckling at the child antics. There was a reason why Hadrian had used all this façade, and that reason was that he needed his presence –as a child- needed to be as inconspicuous as possible, and that's what he had achieved. The whole episode will soon be forgotten by the bartender, an unimportant memory amongst thousands.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

* I am not trying to say anything against daughters and women in general. Just trying to drive the point home that Potters are Peveralls and not some silly descendents.


	4. VoD Chapter 4

A/N: So, here's the merged chapter. I hope it improves the flow of the story.

Total Words: 8,771

Written By: Way Of Life

UnBetaed

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Once outside of Leaky Cauldron, Hadrian entered the first Dark alley that he could find and casted a strong notice-me-not charm on himself. He really did not want the charm to fail for what he was about to do. Neither did he want any curious witch or wizard poking their noses –in the process testing his ward- hence the need to perform the next task in the muggle world.

Satisfied that his charm would fend off anyone that wanted to enter the alley, he striped. He did not want to be in his tiny clothes when his body expanded under the potion's effect. Naked as the day he was born, a six year old Hadrian downed all the 20 vials of Aging Elixir. He felt his body begin to morph, 2 years older for every complete vial of the Elixir.

Soon, the six year old child had been replaced by a middle aged man, his salt and pepper hair giving away his age. Hadrian again picked up the packet that he had brought with him and pulled out a pair of pant and shirt, their quality was not good at worst of days, and indeed they were the cheapest that he could find, but they were new and they would have to do for now.

Just he was finishing donning up the new clothes, he felt his ward fall. He sighed in relief; he knew his magic was not stable enough to cast anything strong, he would just have to make do.

Once finished with the clothes, Hadrian began working on his facial features. He changed his hair from jet black to sandy brown and eyes from green to dull brown. His cheekbones sank in a bit and his face acquired a more square shape. All in all, he no longer resembled himself or his father in any way.

Hadrian did not cast a notice-me-not charm as he entered the Leaky Cauldron. He did not know whether there were any wards to notice such magic and he did not intend to find out now. Nodding at the bartender who frowned at him –most probably because the man did not recognize him- he crossed the gate which led him to the magical barrier.

Reaching the barrier, he concentrated on his magic and tried to bring it forth on his hand. But as unstable as his magic was, it fought his efforts.

Hadrian sighed internally but concentrated anyways, trying to coax his magic in doing his bidding. It took him sometime -his overuse of magic while casting notice-me-not again and again had not helped his case- but his magic did relent and emerged on the surface of his hand.

Hadrian could feel the light buzz of his magic as it flickered on his hand, it resembled a tube light with bad choke, but it was enough for him to get out of his current situation. He tapped the correct bricks lightly with his finger and the wall started to dissolve to give way to an arch.

With determined steps, like a man on mission, Hadrian made his way towards the largest building in the magical alley, Gringotts Bank.

Hadrian entered the bank with little fanfare but as he crossed the gate, he saw the goblin guard turned to look at him, with its patented sneer firmly on place.

Now, if Hadrian had been anyone else, he would have shrugged off the seemingly random event, but he was not anyone else, he was Hadrian Potter and he knew the significance of Goblin guard turning to look at him.

They had marked him, the goblins that is. They knew that something was not right with him; they must have picked up on his use of potion, Hadrian guessed.

Hadrian would have sighed but that reaction of his would have informed goblins that he knew how they worked, and he did not want that. He needed every advantage on his side in case something went wrong. There was also no need to show all his cards at once, and it would profit him eventually if goblins underestimated him causing them to let their guard down.

Ignoring the guard's reaction, Hadrian went ahead and joined the shortest line to meet a teller. It took sometime but soon his number came. The teller did not look up at him, busy in scribbling as he was. The goblin just asked in that irritating, nasal voice that was quite an unpleasant characteristic of their race, "What do you want?" Even though Hadrian could not see the creature's face, he could hear the ever present sneer in the goblins voice.

"Directions for your Inheritance Department, if you would." Hadrian answered ignoring the goblin's less than pleasant attitude. As bad as it was, it was their culture, their way of life.

Goblin's quill stopped scribbling at once at his answer, as its hand came to a pause. Hadrian had managed to grab the creature's attention with his request. After all, it was not every day that someone came asking for inheritance department.

Besides the obvious inheritances in case of death, no human tried to interact with inheritance department, and then too, only those interacted who had been summoned. And there was a reason for that.

Goblin's used their own branch of magic for everything in Gringotts but in case of inheritances they delved deeper in their magic, they made use of Blood rituals.

Blood magic, the one used by wizards, was extremely dangerous. Powerful as it was, the consequences of its failing were even more dangerous. One mistake will cripple one for life in most hideous of ways.

But it all paled in comparison to the Blood rituals, one of the deepest areas of goblin magic. Blood rituals, dangerous and powerful as they were, they were also unforgiving. One just cannot hope to survive a failure of a Blood ritual -if it went wrong or if it deemed one unworthy- so unforgiving was its nature.

If that had been all, then too, Blood rituals would have not gained such dangerous reputation, no, it was not because they were lethal that they gained their reputation. It was because of the methods the magic utilized to kill it's deliquescent. Words like pain and torture did not begin to cover the horror that blood ritual bestowed upon the one who failed them. The sight was said to be so horrid that even goblins could not stand to see it all, and they were one of the harshest creatures in existence, they had created Blood rituals, after all.

Once the unforgiving magic would be finished with its deliquescent, it was said that there would never be much left of the offender. Their bodies would have long time past, passed the stage where it could even be identified whether the offender had been human or something else, all that would be left of the offender, would be mass of flesh and bone and not particularly in that order.

It was said, that once Gringotts had resonated for five days with the screams of a man who had dared to cheat the Blood rituals. He had tried to inherit the Lordship of his recently dead uncle, a man who himself had killed, and magic had judged him unworthy. His tale was still a horror story that was told amongst goblin folk around a bonfire.

Thus there was a very good reason, why none bothered to try inheritance rituals, even if they were sure, they would always wait for Gringotts' summons, as none wanted to try the magic that was more unforgiving than death itself.

As to why goblins employed a magic so dark, so malicious, why else, they were having there sweet revenge, of course.

Wizard kind had defeated them again and again and each time wizards had placed restrictions upon restrictions upon the warrior race. Wizards had not been kind to goblins and goblins were now just returning the favor.

Through the Treaty of 1464 –a treaty signed after years of war between wizards and goblins for the control of gold- goblins had gained the right to manage gold in the magical world. It was a right upon which modern banking was based and a right they exploited.

After being defeated again and again at the hands of wizards, and each time humiliated more and more through the restrictions placed on them, goblins had learned something, they had learned the value of patience. They no longer sought out their revenge in bloodshed, no, they satisfied their vengeance by making it near impossible for wizards to regain the treasures that they had lost to time. They took pleasure in the fact that their gold was right in front of pathetic humans, but the puny wand wavers would dare not touch it, even as they wither and die without it.

Hence, when a foolish human asked for Inheritance department, Sharpfang was surprised enough that his hand stopped on its own.

Sharpfang slowly looked up, from the parchment where he had been scribbling nonstop, to see the fool who wanted die an early death. The human standing before him was as nondescript as they could possibly come. He had a face that was easily forgettable in the crowd and was standing as calmly as he possibly could, as if what he had asked was not a death sentence waiting to be executed.

Sharpfang did not like humans in general, too smug and full of self-importance they were, but this human's casualty had struck a nerve, he did not like this man, not one bit. "Why do you want them?" the goblin asked with a little more show of hostility, hoping that the moron would take the hint and run away with his tail between his legs. But to his surprise, the fool remained as nonchalant as a door; well, it seemed he was dumb as one too.

The fool looked at him and answered casually, "Why, for Blood rituals of course."

Sharpfang knew that no summons had been sent by the Inheritance Office, this human was asking for his death on a silver platter. Well, who was he refuse? If this foolish man wanted to die so badly, then he would happily facilitate it. He snapped his fingers causing a few sparks to emit due to magic being cast and shortly a much younger goblin came to him, while the fool waited. "Take this human to the Inheritance Office." He ordered the young goblin and at the same time sneered at the human. _'Happy dying.'_ He wished the human, mentally of course.

Hadrian followed his guide dutifully; he did not want to be lost in the goblin chambers, it would be unpleasant to say the least. He turned and walked and turned again until he was sure he was confused but finally they reached their destination as his guide stopped. He looked up, and sure enough there was the door in front of him _had Inheritance Office_ etched in it in gold, in Gobblegook of course, one wouldn't find Goblins using human tongue in their territory.

The guide left him, but not before he gave Hadrian a sinister look. Hadrian ignored him - one must always ignore the look's goblin give otherwise it would be impossible to work with them, until they are smiling that is, then one must run away as fast as they could, a happy goblin was never a good omen- and entered the chamber.

The chamber looked nothing like what he had expected, even though he did not know what he had expected but whatever it was, it was not this. The chamber was large enough that it seemed very spacious and in its middle sat a large desk with mounts and mounts of files on it. On both the sides of the table, walls were lined with book cases filled with what else, files. Behind the desk sat an elderly goblin, scribbling away at a leisurely pace.

But it was the wall behind the goblin that had attracted Hadrian's attention. It was littered with different weapon –axes, swords, blades, knifes, you name it and it was there- that the goblin had most probably either earned or created. Goblins simply did not showcased things that they had _'bought'_.

Coming out of his stupor, Hadrian composed himself and calmly walked forward towards the goblin. He took the chair and waited for Goblin to address him.

The goblin finished his scribbling and finally looked up. His dark eyes transfixed at Hadrian, judging him, analyzing him. Whether he found Hadrian worthy or not, Hadrian could not tell. Finally, the goblin tilted his head, "You want to perform a Blood ritual for inheritance." The elderly goblin stated. And that was just what it was, a statement. He had not asked, he had not questioned, he had stated with nary an emotion. The goblin was good.

Hadrian nodded to show his willingness, his eyes locked in on the goblin. Goblin nodded at Hadrian's approval and began shuffling papers on his desk. He spoke in same detached and uninterested voice that he had used before, "Then, by ministry's decree of 1835, I am to inform you that the Blood rituals are extremely dangerous, performing one will most likely end in your death in most horrible of ways. Ministry of Magic asks you not to undergo this ritual. Ministry of magic asks you to reconsider your decision."

Finishing his bland speech, goblin stopped shuffling the papers, finally finding what he had been searching. He began scribbling again, uninterested in person sitting in front of him. "For which House do you perform the ritual?" He asked offhandedly.

"Most Ancient and the Noble House of Peverell." Hadrian stated in just as bland and uninterested tone as his companion. Hadrian was pleased to notice, that goblin was surprised enough that his quill paused for a moment, before he began scribbling again of course.

Hadrian knew just why the goblin had lost his composure, after all, Peverell's had been famous for a reason and for that very reason they had gone into hiding. Though for the rest of the world –except goblins, that is- the family had not gone into hiding, instead it had died when the last Lord's son died without an heir some 800 years ago.

Such an unfortunate event it had been, Lord Peverell had been so heartbroken that he had rarely left his manor after that.

The reason though, as to why Peverell Family had gone into hiding was that they were being hunted back in their day by men, nobles and kings alike for the control of three ancient artifacts, rumored to be gifts from Death itself. No matter how much they denied it, no matter how much they said that they did not possess any such artifact, no one believed them. It was at that point Lord Peverell decided that it was better for Peverells to go into hiding than live with their name.

When his son, Richard, was born, the last Lord Peverell saw the same life that he had lived, laid ahead for his child, always fending off attacks from friends and foes alike, unable to even trust closest of his friends. It had not been a life, for the last Lord, it had been a nightmare and it was something that the lord did not want for his son.

To save young Richard from such misfortune, Lord Peverell had devised a plan, a plan that would hide their family in plain sight and away from the life of politicking and betrayal.

When his son was born, Lord Peverell faked birth of another child with a different name but with same looks as his son in another country; it was easy to do such things at that time.

He done what he had done, for a reason of course, he had use of this fake persona. This child, this fake persona that he had created, would be Richard's alter ego, his identity when his son finally left his true name behind.

Lord Peverell had left no stone unturned, he had made complete arrangements to see his son live a peaceful life. The family that he had chosen for his Richard's alter ego had been chosen for a very specific reason. And that reason was that the family was a social recluse in its society, they did not prefer to mingle at all with the others around them and this behavior was happily reciprocated by their neighbors.

Lord Peverell had his son live with this family quite often and even had Richard attend any social gatherings that the family decided to grace with their presence, just to ensure that his child had a solid background for when Richard reentered magical Britain as a commoner.

Lord Peverell had made sure that his son and his fake identity were always two different people with different facial features. To remove completely any chances of his son being identified as the same person as his fake persona, he had placed Richard under constant glamours -whenever they were in Britain, starting from his infancy- to make sure that his child looked completely different than his true self. As a result, no one knew the true face of his son, all they saw was glamour's he had placed upon the child.

It had been done with one fact in mind and that fact was that Lord Peverell had planned for his son to live the rest of his life as a commoner and it would have been quit impossible for Richard to live his life with glamours always on; he would most likely slip at some point of time. And even if he somehow managed, how would Richard explain the fact that why his offspring did not look like him? It would have been too risky and too suspicious to say the least and Lord Peverell had wanted to avoid both those things, thus the need to place glamours upon Richard throughout his early life.

Time passed sedately at its pace and lord Peverell followed his plan. Soon, Richard had finished his schooling and it was time for his son's alter ego to integrate into the British society, and integrate he did. Richard had presented himself as an immigrant who wanted to avoid the reputation his family had in their own country, a person who had wanted a fresh start. And a fresh start he had got.

Slowly, as Richard's alter ego started demanding more and more of his time, his appearances' in public as Heir Peverell began to decline, until eight years later, when Richard Peverell _'died'_ quit publically and brutally after being hunted by ones who sought deathly Hallows, supposedly. It was quite an unfortunate event, the end of a House just like that.

After his son's _'death'_, Lord Peverell had been so heartbroken that he had essentially locked himself in his manor, rarely appearing in public, while all this time he lived with Richard, who had bought a small house with Galleons he had earned as his alter ego.

Life went smoothly for Peverell's after that, Richard met a young woman and fell in love. They were married not two years later. Life was peaceful after that for the Peverells. And thus was born, Most Ancient House of Potter.

Goblin looked up and narrowed his eyes at the wizard sitting in front of him. House Peverell had been an anomaly, for wizards and for goblins, even after 800 years since the last Peverell had walked the lands, the magic of the House refused to fade. It's guardian spirit had remained as strong as ever, signifying that the Peverell blood still existed in its true form, through son's lines that is, never through a daughter's.*

Goblin scrutinized the man again and frowned, for the first time showing any real emotion. Oh! He had suspected Peverells to be alive, all goblins did, after the guardian spirit refused to fade after 800 hundred years, it had been almost obvious, the most logical conclusion. But that was not the reason why goblin was frowning.

Peverells had been in hiding for nearly 800 years now, and they had been in hiding for a very good reason. He did not doubt that if the family were to resurface now, then the hunts would again follow, the only difference this time would be that this time they would be hunted by much more organized Dark Lords, rather than a disorganized mob of wannabe's.

Thus the question was, why was House of Peverell resurfacing?

Not for even one second did the goblin doubt the claim of the man sitting in his office. Many would have considered this human fool for what he wanted to do, some even of his race, but he knew better.

The man may seem as calm and composed but the goblin knew that the human was afraid, but just the right amount –neither was he reduced to a simpering fool nor was he an overconfident idiot, he was cautious, the sign of true warrior- and rightly so, because Magic was unpredictable at best and would kill the human if he was found unworthy.

If this human had not been afraid then goblin would have indeed cast him aside as one more story for the late night bonfires but the human was and thus goblin truly believed that the human was indeed a Peverell.

Several minutes passed as the goblin stared at him, with those narrowed eyes, scrutinizing him, analyzing him again and again. Hadrian fought back the urge to shift under goblins heavy scrutiny but maintained his composure. Finally the goblin nodded and stood up. "Follow me then." Goblin announced in his crisp and nonchalant voice.

Goblin led Hadrian in the room adjacent to his chamber, a room dedicated to Blood rituals.

Room itself was dark, but was lit by some sort of luminous crystals that were hanging on the walls, providing barely enough light for Hadrian to see. Their bluish white light cast dark shadows, giving the room an ominous feel.

As Hadrian entered the room, he felt the presence of something cold, something ruthless. The presence washed over him, as light as it was, it still made his hairs stand up.

Hadrian looked around, searching for the source of the presence but found none, instead he noticed the runic circles etched all over the floor. Circles amongst circles, formed array of runes defining the nature of magic to be cast.

Those concentric rings, etched in the hard stone floor, drew power from the lay lines beneath them. They gave shape to the magic they extracted from earth, molding it, mutating it and manipulating it till the end result was the cold and unforgiving magic of Blood rituals.

Goblin snapped his fingers and the wall behind the rings started shifting until it bore a statue of a goblin warrior. The statue, made of some sort of polished black stone had a feral snarl ready to burst from its lips as it sneered disdainfully. Its dark eyes were filled with glee and its sword was waiting to take a life.

Goblin presses its bony finger along the tip of the sword and ran it down all along the edge, coating the blade's edge with a fine line of blood in the process. Goblin stepped back just in time for the statue to move and move it did. The statue sheathed its sword as it stepped back and dissolved into the wall.

Goblin snapped its fingers again and rows and columns began to appear on the previously blank wall. Slowly they grew deeper and took shape of lockers. Goblin's eyes scanned the wall until they came to rest upon a particular locker. He opened it and drew out an ornate stone bowl.

The bowl was made of white marble and had arrays of runes etched all over its surface. With each etching filled with some sort of red fluid.

Blood, Hadrian guessed. It was blood of all the previous Peverell Lords which filled those etching, forming a reference for the Blood ritual.

Goblin snapped his fingers again, causing a circular platform to rise on the floor in the middle of rune rings. He stepped in, placed the bowl on the platform and carefully stepped out of the rune circles. He handed Hadrian an athame while prompting Hadrian to go in, which Hadrian did. "Pour your blood into the bowl." He commanded his voice guarded and careful.

Hadrian made a cut on his palm with the ritual blade and blood starting pouring out from the wound, filling the bowl below. The cut healed itself as bowl was filled with sufficient amount of blood.

But as soon as the first drop of blood had made contact with the bowl, the room had come to life. The runic circles had begun to glow in an unholy red light.

Slowly, silver particles -as if of dust and even smaller than sand- started to collect over the bowl. And as they grew in volume, the presence that he had earlier felt began to grow too. Hadrian watched in foreboding as silver sand started to expand and expand it did, until it reached him in height and then it began to change shape.

As it shifted, silver sand brought with it a strange coldness in the room, it was not something that affected Hadrian physically but yet he felt it all the same. His heart began to beat faster as if under stress and sweat began to form on his forehead and yet the silver sand continued to shift. It shifted and molded and shifted again until it took a form. In front of Hadrian stood a threstal, with its wings open in its full might.

Hadrian bowed his head in respect as the guardian spirit of House Peverell stared at him, analyzing him, deciding in between granting his wish and killing him.

Threstal tilted its head and again dissolved into the same silver sand that had given the spirit its form. The silver sand did not expand this time, instead it began to spread and encompass everything inside the rune circle. And then it raced towards the mortal that had called upon its judgment.

Hadrian gasped as the millions of particles of magic –for that was what the silver sand had been -collided with him, getting absorbed in his body in the process. He felt a chill beginning to spread in his body, deep within his very bones and in his blood, as the magic assessed him. It began from his toes and fingers and raced towards his heart.

He felt the cold and ruthless magic coursing through his body, judging him, scrutinizing him. A sharp stab of pain emanated from his heart and he knew that magic had begun to collect in his heart, having finished its judgment. The pain began to recede and he knew that he had been found worthy. His head, on its own tilted itself up and again on itself his mouth opened as if in a silent scream, allowing the magic to escape and escape they did. Hundreds of thousands of particles of silver sand raced out of his mouth, and began collecting over the bowl, again taking shape of a threstal.

The spirit stared him in the eyes and slowly bowed its head, recognizing him as Lord Peverell. Hadrian sighed in relief and smiled, another of his plan was in motion. The spirit dissolved again into the silver sand and raced towards his hand. But this time though, it was not absorbed into his body, instead it began to shift and change its form.

As it shifted, it began losing resemblance to its previous state –that of sand- and started looking more and more like molten silver as its volume got reduced in size and then it began revolving around his finger rather than his hand . The molten silver kept shifting and soon in the place of the guardian spirit was a silver ring, with a white diamond set in it, on his finger. The ring of House Peverell. The ring of Lord of House Peverell.

Goblin, who had been watching the byplay with interest, cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the new Lord. "Cost of the ritual shall be deducted from Peverell vaults." Goblin informed human with the same uninterested and detached voice that he had been using till now. "Gringotts can also take care of the rest of the documents for you in the Ministry, if you would give your details." The goblin finished. _'For a price, of course._' Was left unsaid.

Hadrian looked at the goblin and smiled, "That would not be necessary." Goblin raised a non-existent eyebrow but Hadrian had no intention to reveal the identity of Lord Peverell.

Though, not for even a second, did he entertain the idea that the news of return of House Peverell could be concealed. There were too many factors to consider, first were Goblins, a powerful force on their own and second was the registry of wizengamot, it enlisted all active Lord Rings.

Hadrian smiled a feral grin. For many nobles, shit would very soon hit the fan.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

His business in ritual chamber now over, Hadrian waited for the goblin to lead the way back to his office. He had, after all, no intention of even trying to find his way out of the maze that goblins had created down here in order to protect their gold, the greedy bastards.

After waiting for a few moments, the goblin did lead the human out of the ritual chamber –though it did so after gracing Hadrian with his trade mark sneer- but the creature did not lead Hadrian back to his office, instead he led the human to an old dusty room that might have been at some point of time, an office. The door to the office was open, revealing the sight within.

And what an ugly sight it was. Cobwebs marred every crook and cranny of the office while a thick layer of dust seemed to stretch everywhere his eyes could see. The wooden desks and chairs showed their age and neglect with their frailness. By the looks of it, this office had not been in use for a very, very long time.

Hadrian raised an eyebrow at the goblin. "What is this?" He asked.

The goblin showed his razor sharp teeth, as it smiled gleefully. "Why?" He answered. "What else but the Office of Account Manager of Peverell Vaults." He finished, his eyes containing an unholy smile at the insult.

And an insult it was. The bigger and better the office of the Account Manager, the better was the standing of the House with the Goblins and thus by proxy the society. The society followed it by proxy because it was common knowledge that Goblins favored nothing but gold and more the gold in the vault, better the office of the account Manager. Thus like this one, one of the many roundabout ways, Noble Families maintained their social standing in the society.

And the goblins had just insulted House of Peverell in the worst way possible. The neglect that Goblins had showed towards the Office of Account Manager showed just what the greedy creatures thought of the House Peverell and just what their opinion was of the Ancient and Noble House.

But the insult just did not end there, no, no it did not. Those bitter creatures had really gone all out to showcase their contempt for the House of Peverell. They could have just dissolved the office of the manager but no, no they'd gone beyond that, they had kept it around and let it rot away. Those nasty creatures had done that just to showcase that no goblin, no matter how worthless, wanted to waste its time by accepting the position of Account Manager of House Peverell.

It was a grave insult, a grave one indeed.

Hadrian did not react; he merely kept his eyebrow raised as he stared at the goblin whose gleeful joy could not have been more obvious.

"Is this the level of competence that I should expect from goblins of Britain?" Hadrian returned the insult. "But then I again, Dwarfs are good as they come. I shouldn't possibly compare your race to them." Hadrian smiled evilly. "It's not fair to you."

The smile fell right out of the Goblins face at the mention of Dwarfs, like an over ripe fruit falling at the touch of the wind. And the last comment was just adding salt to the wound, the goblin sneered darkly.

The rivalry between Dwarfs and Goblins was legendary. The wars that those 2 races had fought against each other were more than the combined number of wars they had invidiously fought against humans. Praising dwarfs in front of a goblin was like punching an open wound and then rubbing salt in it.

The goblin bared its teeth at the insult, "It's not our incompetence wizard it's…" But Hadrian cut the creature off. "Oh I am sure you have your little excuses but I am suited to a better service than this." Hadrian said.

The goblin growled at the wizard, not liking the attitude of the human one bit. Hadrian though, ignored the state of the goblin. He had to drive the point home that goblins did not have sway over House of Peverell, no one did.

"The state of this office is pathetic. Either Clan Bloodfist is no longer what it used to be or I was wrong to believe that Clan Bloodfist were the best that there is." Hadrian stared at the goblin with an air of smugness. And the goblins sneer deepened. Hadrian didn't even know that one could deepen a sneer.

The goblins hands twitched as it grunted, "Goblins are the best that there is, it's you hu…" But Hadrian again cut the goblin off. "So you say, but the proof that I have in front of my eyes begs to disagree. In any case, I can no longer avail the services of Clan Bloodfist."

As the human's words registered in his mind, the goblin stopped short at whatever it was about to say. Was the wizard really saying what he thought the human was saying? Was the wizard really terminating the services of Clan Bloodfist and accusing them of incompetence. This would cause a scandal like never before.

Removing a clan from the office was the gravest insult that wizards could inflict on a goblin. Though no one would dare judge Clan Bloodfist for being removed from office but the stain would remain there forever; though no one would ever talk about it but the taint just wouldn't wash off. "What do you mean?" The goblin growled.

Hadrian plunged the knife deep in the Goblin nation's pride and ego. "I mean that the Clan Bloodfist will cease their services to the Houses of Peverell this instant." He announced. He eyed the abandoned office and continued, "Not that there is much of it." And then he twisted it. This was Hadrian's payback to the goblin's insult.

The goblin stared at the wizard. "And who would take over the job human?" And then the goblin smirked.

Who the rotting corpse did the wizard thought he was. Did he really think that he could get just insult the Goblin nation's biggest clan and get away with it? No goblin would dare to go against Clan Bloodfist; no one would take up the job. But every account needs a manager, either small or big, either one or many, every account has to have a manager; that was Gringott's policy.

The wizard would come back begging to the Clan Bloodfist, yes, soon, very soon he would and then Bloodfist's would extract anything they could from the wizards. The wizard did not even know how big of a mistake he was making. And he smirked.

Hadrian though, knew all the politics of goblin nation and had a response ready. "Why?" He smirked back at the goblin. "Clan Blodclaw would be more than up for the job, I am told." And the smirk fell right off the Goblin's face.

Clan Bloodclaw and Bloodfist were bitter rivals. No, rival was the wrong word to use; they were not rivals they were enemies, bitter ones at that. To pit them against each other was unthinkable. Horrible things were about to happen. Goblin could feel it in his bones.

Things went rather smoothly for Hadrian after that. The goblin -though hesitantly- led him to the Head of BloodClaw Clan and after a few negotiations, Hadrian had a new account manager. The goblin, Clawhook, was a middle aged but respected goblin and was also the one who managed Black estate. It was for this very reason that Hadrian had requested for him. Hadrian had plans for the Blacks.

With that out of his way, Hadrian went about his normal business. He took a few hundred galleons out of his vault and converted them to muggle money. With all his work done in Gringotts, he left the building and the alley.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Now that phase 1 and phase 2 of his plan were in motion, Hadrian decided that it was time to engage phase 3. This phase, unlike the other 2, did not depend on creation of chaos in any way; it was much more sophisticated in nature.

Phase 3 was also different from the previous two in one more way; while the other 2 were enacted upon to create paths for the future, this plan was a contingency, a contingency in case something went wrong and he lost access to money in the magical world. For that would not do.

In politics, money was power, money was the things that smoothed the rough edges, money was the thing that helped make decisions and money was the thing that talked, for nothing else did. Thus the need of this phase, this contingency.

But for the initiation of phase 3, Hadrian needed a muggle ID, for in this phase of his plan, he was going to invest in muggle economy. He was from the future, he knew which companies were going to make big and which won't. And he was going to make use of that knowledge. He was not going to stop himself from acting due to some misguided sense of nobility.

Hadrian knew that even though he had made big changes all around the world, demand for some things could never decrease. And as such, Hadrian had plans to invest in various software and electronic giants like Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, Nokia etc…

The money that these investments would make for him would remain in muggle world, secured in various banks all around the world. He knew when and where recession would hit and he would avoid them like plague but before all that, he needed a muggle ID and he knew just the person who could help him with his little problem.

Now the problem was how to reach his contact. Magic was out of option, what with all the magic that Hadrian had used, he was sure that any more use of magic would have catastrophic effects and he did not want to take risks against chances that bad. This left only one option if he wanted to arrive with his potions still working and that option was Night Bus. Hadrian grimaced. That was one experience he had never enjoyed and most probably never would. Though there was nothing that he could do about it now, so he sucked it up and raised his hand.

Almost immediately there was a bang and a brilliant purple monstrosity of a bus came to halt in front of him. The conductor was someone else, as he remembered Stan being more pimply and young than the man standing in front of him. This conductor seemed even older than Ernie the driver and that was saying something.

Hadrian entered into the bus and bought a ticket for Mislet Alley, a place infamous for attracting all the wrong sorts of crowd. And just like always, without preamble, without any sort of warning the bus lurched forward, causing Hadrian to slam head first into the door. Hadrian cursed out loud but steadied himself for the rest of the journey. He had a long, long way to go. He sighed heavily.

Reaching his destination, he stepped out of the bus so fast that it seemed the hounds of hell themselves were after him, causing the conductor to laugh at his antics. Hadrian scowled but the monstrosity that was the night bus sped away, leaving a scowling Hadrian behind.

Hadrian shook his head to clear away the after effects of Night bus and started walking straight to his destination. He stopped in front of a non-descript shop that had no signs to show what it sold. He entered it and saw the man he was looking for.

Behind the counter sat a very lean man. He looked as if a strong wing might blow him away. And the skin tight clothes that he wore did no help to hide his figure. The owner gave his customer a once over and raised an eyebrow.

"Higgins. I take it." Hadrian answered at the man's unasked question. The owner only nodded as a reply.

"I have been told that you are quite good at what you do." Harry continued evenly. "And I found myself in need of your services." He said as he looked around the shop and his eyes fell on a potted rose plant. _'Perfect.'_ He smiled internally.

"Who told ya 'bout mah?" Higgins asked his customer. He didn't take any work without recommendation, for he was a forger, a risky business to run. Hence the necessary precautions.

"Oh, just here and there. You came highly recommended." Harry answered smoothly though in truth he had come to know Higgins in his last life on the run when he had been hiding from ministry and his so called friends. Higgins had been the one to whom he went to have new IDs forged. But Hadrian couldn't possibly tell that a muggle, could he?

" 'ere and there, work for mah none. Beh gone!" Higgins exclaimed.

Harry moved over to the potted plant and stared at it lovingly. "It is really unfortunate that we can't seem to agree." Hadrian said as he raised his hand and petted the plant affectionately. All the while he dug in his magic and tried to bring it up on his skin.

His magic fought though, it had been over taxed all day and hence was very unstable at the moment. But if his magic was stubborn then Hadrian was tenacious, he fought back and finally drew a little of it on his skin. He converted it into a decaying jinx and felt as the magic took hold of the plant.

Before his eyes, the fresh green plant began to wilt; its leaves lost their color and began changing from green to yellow to sickly brown while its flowers began to shed and the green of the stem began to turn into decaying brown. But before the magic could do any more, it went unstable and burst into flames, setting the plant on fire.

The shopkeeper's eyes went wide with fear as he stared at Hadrian's hand and then at Hadrian. Higgins had seen many things in his line of work and only once had he met a man who could do what his customer had just done. He shivered internally. Those were one of the most horrible memories he had.

Though this was not the impression that he had been trying for but as it worked nicely enough, Hadrian let it be. He looked up at the man, "Do we have an agreement Mr. Higgins?"

The man nodded dumbly as he kept staring at Hadrian's hand. Hadrian smiled, "It wasn't that hard, was it? Now where were we?"

With that Hadrian gave all the details he wanted for his new ID and walked out of the shop with a satisfied smile. Soon Lawrence Hale would make his first move in the muggle economy.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

A year later.

The year that had just passed had been very good to Harry; and why wouldn't it be, all his plans were now beginning to bear fruit, after all.

Phase 1 was still under operation and though Harry had to tweak it a few times, it still served its purpose well. Every now and then, Fates tried to kill the leaders that he had saved but the paranoia that he had instilled in them saved their lives… well most of the times it had. And even if they finally succumbed to the Fates hand, their initial escape was enough to change timelines of those countries.

But Hadrian had not left it at that, no, no he had always been thorough with what he did and his plans were no exception. Thus for every leader that Fates killed, Harry saved another one and instilled in them more than enough paranoia that they might just escape most of their trysts with Fates alive.

Phase 2 too was progressing nicely. The day Ministry had announced return of House Peverell, the attendance that the wizengamot had enjoyed the next day had been overwhelming. Every noble family, every House, whether Ancient or not, whether important or not, whether old or new, all had taken their seat that day (even Arcturus Black, who had been struggling with several ailments, had made an appearance). And all those who did not have a seat on the authority body, had cramped themselves in the visitor's gallery.

That day, anyone who was anything of importance, had been present in the wizengamot, to know more about the enigmatic House of Peverell. And anyone who was not anything of importance had stuffed themselves into the galleries of Ministry. It was almost apologetic that Ministry hadn't been able answer any question of the rowdy crowd, almost being the key word.

The paper had had a field day that day. They had chewed the ministry out, for its inability to satisfy the curiosity of masses. The competence of the government had been questioned that day, leaving politicians in a very uncomfortable situation.

The ministry had in turn, reached Gringotts for answers but had been rebuffed rudely by the goblins. Privacy of Peverell Accounts, after all, had been one of the things that Hadrian had negotiated most harshly with the Clan BloodClaw.

Suffice to say that the Chaos had reigned in the Ministry for a few days until the matter had finally cooled down. Hadrian had enjoyed that, he had enjoyed that very much.

And to add fuel to the fire, Hadrian had not let the presence of his House be forgotten. Every few months, he had donated a few hundred galleons either to St. Mungos or to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, reminding the magical world that House of Peverell did exist and not just on paper. After all, anything done by the mysterious House always made the headlines.

Hadrian had specifically chosen DMLE for the purpose of donation in hopes that his galleons would help the struggling department but whether they were put in good use or not, he did not know. Oh he knew that Madam Bones was a capable witch but he also had faith in poisonous sliver tongue of one Lucius Malfoy. That bastard could possibly convince Fudge to further reduce the funds of DMLE just because DMLE had been given a generous donation. In between Fudge and Malfoy, anything was possible.

Besides that, there was another issue in this phase that he still had to tend to and that issue was the issue of wizengamot. House Peverell had yet to make an appearance in the authority body and its absence had caused a lot of stir in the political circles while the media had run afoul with speculations and conspiracy theories. Everyone was busy discussing the cause of House Peverell's absence, why had the seat not been taken? If they did not want the seat, then why come out in open? These were some of the biggest unanswered questions.

But, like always, Hadrian had reason for his decision. He knew just how fickle the media and the magical world were. What with the popularity of the House Peverell being at its peak then, anything that he would have done would had either been glorified or ridiculed after it had been scrutinized down to miniscule pieces. And Hadrian had not wanted that, he had wanted the magical world complacent and curious not eager and anxious.

Besides this, there was also one more reason why he had not yet graced the halls of wizengamot and that reason was the rampart conspiracies present in the authority body. Hadrian had no doubt that the day return of House Peverell had been announced, each and every Noble family had begun plotting either against or for House Peverell.

Thus for these two reasons, he had decided to give his seat authority body a miss for now. He hoped that uncertainty and their impatience due to long wait might have caused the noble families to give up on their schemes and thus they would not be ready when House Peverell finally took its seat in wizengamot.

He knew his plan would not deter those who were determined to find the truth about House Peverell but it would deter sufficient number of them. Magicals, after all, had not learned the virtue of patience. When one could do almost everything with the wave of a wand, then what need was there of patience.

Thus the decision.

Now, his next plan, i.e. his friendship with Neville, was progressing nicely as well. The painfully shy boy had been overjoyed to have a male friend his own age. Sure the kid had his cousins but he was still in the age where girls had cooties and unfortunately, all his cousins were either girls or a little too old to be his friend. Besides them, the child only had his grandmother and she wasn't the most sociable person.

Thus slowly the friendship had grown deep, to the level that Hadrian now met with Neville almost 3 to 4 days a week at Longbottom Hall. Augusta had keyed Hadrian into the wards after the initial meeting. She too had been aware of the shyness of her grandson and had hoped that a male friend his own age might bring her heir out of his shell.

During the meeting, when the Longbottom matriarch had questioned Hadrian about his family, he had told her a story which he had previously decided upon. He had told the Longbottom Reagent that his mother and his aunt had been the only children of a muggleborn couple and that both the girls had been witches. He had continued the story and had told her that his parents and grandparents had been murdered in the war while his aunt had survived as she had married a muggle and she was the one who was raising him now. Augusta Longbottom had not inquired further after that.

His next plan, Phase three, was also well underway. After obtaining the muggle IDs, the first thing Hadrian had done was to hire a legal firm to represents the interests of Lawrence Hale. This firm had then become the bridge between him and the muggle economy.

Through the help of this firm, Hadrian had invested in all the major software and electronic companies that he remembered doing well in his last life and as a result was already cashing in the profits.

It was through this firm that Hadrian handled all his financial dealing, all his legal proceedings and dealt with all the curious reporters that tried finding out just who Lawrence Hale was.

Hadrian smiled. Yes, yes last year had indeed been good to him. All his plans were progressing nicely like a well oiled machine and he now even had a friend to play with. Things were indeed looking good for one Harry Potter.

Smiling, Hadrian left his aunt's house and headed for the edge of the wards that covered Private Drive. Once he reached his destination, he apparated to Longbottom Hall. He had a friend to meet.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

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	5. VoD Chapter 5

A/N 1: Since this story crossed 100 favorites, I decided to updater sooner than my schedule and finished this chapter as soon as possible. Hence, here I am, updating with this chapter, not even 10 days after the last update. Enjoy.

A/N 2: Okay, so the rates of conversion that I'll be using are:

1 Galleon = 51 Pounds = 17 Sickles

1 Sickle = 3 Pounds = 30 knuts

1 Knut = 0.1 Pounds

Look over theses rates for a second. Don't tell me later, that every thing that I mentioned was way too cheap.

A/N 3: The grammar in the dialogs, at many places, is intentionally wrong. It has been done to showcase the accent of the speaker. Sometimes even Hadrian's grammar is wrong. So please don't point out the grammatical mistakes in dialogs.

If those are made somewhere else, please feel free to tell me.

* * *

Total Words: 8,614

Written By: Way Of Life

Unbeta'ed

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With a slight displacement of air and a soft sound of 'pop', Hadrian arrived just outside of the wards of Longbottom Hall. His appearance though did not go unnoticed, as he was greeted by another soft pop and the appearance of a house-elf. The creature wore a clean white pillowcase and greeted him with a smile.

"Young sirs James, young master Longbottom sirs waits for yous." The diminutive creature announced in its oddly high pitched voice. "He's being in guest room." Hadrian nodded his thanks to the creature and headed for the place where he usually greeted Neville every time he came over.

In the meantime, he quickly checked the makeup covering his scar in a shiny suit of armor. Satisfied that his scar would not become visible anytime soon, he covered his forehead with his bangs, just as an additional security measure.

Reaching his destination he knocked on the door twice, not for Neville's benefit, no, he knocked because if he didn't practice proper courtesy, then he would be chewed out by the Longbottom matriarch for his boorish manners. And Hadrian didn't want that, not one bit.

Receiving an affirmative, Hadrian entered the room and found it too ornate like always. He always felt that the room was decorated beautifully though ostentatiously. There were suits of armor guarding the entrance and vivid tapestries covered every inch of the four walls while a thick lush carpet covered the floor. Even its roof was not left bare as brilliant chandlers decorated it. All in all, the room screamed of wealth and finesse of an Ancient pureblood home.

But what Hadrian did not understand was why Augusta insisted that Neville always greeted him in this room. For all she knew, Hadrian was just a child of some unimportant muggleborns, then why the showoff?

It was this question that had always ticked him off? Was Augusta Longbottom really such a pretentious woman that she felt the need to flaunt her wealth even in front of a child? But that reasoning did not matchup with the Augusta the he knew, either from the previous timeline (when he had taken refuge under her roof while hiding from the ministry) or the Augusta from this timeline. Thus he had reasoned that Augusta might just be following traditions; that she just might be training Neville into the ways of pureblood families. After that, Hadrian had let the matter be.

Searching for his friend, Hadrian found the shy boy sitting beside his grandmother. Hadrian smiled brightly at his friend and then turned to greet the Longbottom matriarch. "Good afternoon Mrs. Longbottom." He smiled politely at her.

The strict witch looked up from the parchment on which she was scribbling in and glanced at him. "A very good afternoon to you too James." She replied as she smiled brightly.

Uh huh! What in the Merlin's name was that?

Augusta Longbottom usually just nodded at Hadrian in greeting or if he was lucky, then she just replied back. But never in the whole year that he'd known the women and her grandson had she ever smiled at him this nicely. This was seriously a first that he never expected happening. Beside her, Neville too was smiling brilliantly at him.

Noticing his friend's arrival, Neville quickly stood up from his seat and turned to his grandmother, "Can we be excused Grandmother?" He asked as he shifted his weight from one foot to another in impatience.

It was the testament of just how pleased Augusta Longbottom was that she did not even correct her grandson's grammar, let alone berate him for it. Instead she smiled at him and allowed them to leave. "Be careful." She called out as they left.

Now, Hadrian had seen many weird things, but Augusta Longbottom smiling brilliantly was not one of them and it really freaked him out. Thus it was really not a surprise that as soon as they had left the room, Hadrian demanded, "Just what in Merlin's pants was that mate?"

Neville laughed at Hadrian's outburst but answered the question once he calmed down. "I did magic today." He seemed ready to burst with joy as he answered.

Hadrian stared dumbly at Neville, he had not thought that he might have this much effect on the boy. Thus "Huh." was his eloquent reply.

Neville though did not seem to have noticed his friend's dumbstruck attitude, as he continued, "I did magic, James, Magic." He seemed to inflate with pride at the pronouncement. "I am not a squib after all." He whispered, as if saying it out loud might make it untrue.

That last statement broke Hadrian out of his stupor. "Of course you are not a squib." He commented somewhat forcefully. "That's what I have been saying all along. Were you not listening?" He frowned.

"I know, I know." The pureblood replied with his eyes looking away in distance. "But it was always you who said that. Only you believed in me." He turned to look at Hadrian and continued, "Everyone else just looked at me with pity. Everyone always assumed that I was just another good for nothing squib." But then his mood again turned cheerful, "But no more of that anymore. I am honest to Merlin, wand using wizard. And nobody can say otherwise." He pronounced happily.

"Congratulations mate." Hadrian patted his friend's back, smiling. "So what did you do?" He asked.

The pureblood turned to look at Hadrian and his smile dimmed as he answered, "You remember the orchid that my mother had planted?" The boy asked.

Hadrian nodded in answer. It was the plant that Neville cherished more than any other plant in Longbottom greenhouses. It was the one thing that made him feel related to his mother. It was also the reason that he had started working in the greenhouses in the first place.

"Well, this morning when I was checking the greenhouses and…and I tripped and fell...I fell over it." Neville answered but his voice quivered at the thought of the orchid being damaged. That plant was precious to Neville, it was more important to the pureblood than any other thing in the world.

"I heard a…a snap and looked down. And there it…it was my mother's orchid, right under me, crushed and its stem cracked." The pureblood continued as the thought filled him with unmitigated dread. "I thought I had lost her James…I really did…and I began to panic…I did not know what to do. I got up and tried to attach it back but it just won't fit." The boy said as a sad look crossed over his face.

"And all I thought was… this could not be happening… that no, no it just couldn't have happened…that…that I just hadn't destroyed my mother's orchid…my last link to her…to my parents…that no, no, no, no, it just couldn't have happened." Neville turned to look at Hadrian as he continued, "I was pleading then James…to any and all deities that exist…to anything and anyone that would listen and then…and then… it began to straighten itself up. Its stem began to mend and it's crushed leaves untangled themselves and then it bloomed Harry…it bloomed…it sprouted a flower." The pureblood boy was now happy again and was filled with joy, ready to bounce on his feat.

Hadrian smiled at the wonder in his friend's voice. He was happy for his friend, he really was but a change this big was something that he had not expected this soon.

Oh Hadrian always knew that he was changing Neville's life forever when he followed the boy in that nursery on an impulsive decision but he had never thought that he would affect the boy this much.

Originally, Neville had done his first accidental magic at the age of 10 when his great uncle had in desperation -and by mistake- thrown him out of the window. But that was no longer the case. This time around, Neville had done his first accidental magic more than three years prior than he was supposed to. Hadrian wondered what would be the result of this. And how would this affect his plans.

There was now a very real danger that Fates could find out about his involvement. If the fates dug even a little deep, then they would come across an unknown that they hadn't planned out for –i.e. James Mason- and that would get them curious. He doubted that it would take Fates more time after that to figure out just who James was? This now presented a very, very serious flaw in his impromptu plan. Oh! If only he hadn't been reckless.

And the worst part was that there was nothing that he could do here, nothing that would salvage the situation, nothing that would stop the Fates from noticing this change. He could only hope now, hope that he had done enough to keep the heavenly being occupied. And not just occupied, he hoped that the Fates were too occupied to dig too deep in Neville's early bloom.

But there was no point in crying over spilled milk. There never was. He would have to make do. There were some plans that he would have to engage sooner than previously thought.

"…and then she floo'ed my uncle. They will be coming over just any moment now. And you can finally meet them James." Neville said, causing Hadrian to come out of his internal struggle.

"Huh!" Hadrian said ineloquently. Just what happened here? This was not supposed to happen. He was not supposed to meet anybody else. He had not planned for this. Just how did he get volunteered into this?

Was someone messing with his plan? Yes, yes someone had too. Of course someone had. But who? Who had messed with his plans? Who? Who? Fates? Was it Fates? Had Fates messed with his plans? Had Fates already noticed him?

While Hadrian was under a full panic attack, a soft pop announced the arrival of a house-elf. "Young master Neville sir, Mistress tells Tobby to tell you that the guests are here sir. She waits in guest room sir." The creature announced before bowing a little and popping away.

As his ominous reverie continued, Neville seemed to find something wrong with his friend's demeanor. "James?" He called, breaking Hadrian's dark line of thoughts. "Are you all right?" The pureblood asked.

Hadrian shook his head to clear his thoughts and instantly changed his demeanor to that of an unsure child. He did not want anybody to suspect anything. "Umm…Do I have to meet your uncle?" He whined.

"Oh! Come on." Neville laughed at Hadrian's antics but when the half-blood didn't budge he rolled his eyes and said, "Don't be a baby James!"

That got Neville an instant reaction. The pureblood surely knew how to press Hadrian's buttons. "I am not a baby!" Hadrian scowled at his friend. "You are a baby. A teeny tiny baby." He crossed his hands on his chest as he scowled at his laughing friend.

"Oh come on James!" Neville exclaimed as he half dragged the half-blood to the guest room. "Come meet uncle Cygnus."

Hadrian sighed but complied.

Now that Hadrian was not panicking about his plans, he mentally kicked himself for that momentary lapse of cool. But there was nothing he could do about it as this bipolarity in his behavior was a part of who he was. He was, after all, an amalgamation of two personalities and it showed.

Whenever one of them got overwhelmed, its reactions surfaced, whether that was the reaction of his old self or his child self that depended on the personalities and not on him.

He thanked all the deities that existed, that Neville had broken him out of his stupor. Who knew what would have happened otherwise?

Reaching his destination, Hadrian sighed and once again scowled at his friend who smirked at him cheerily.

"There there." Neville patted Hadrian's head, causing the half-blood to get outraged.

"I am not a baby!" Hadrian hissed at the pureblood but Neville just snickered at his friend's reaction and opened the door to the guest room.

"Good afternoon uncle Cygnus!" The pureblood greeted with a shy smile as he squirmed slightly. "And to you too aunt Elladora, cousin Daphne and Astoria."

"A very good afternoon to you too Neville." Cygnus Greengrass replied in a booming voice with a warm smile on his face. "Augusta was just telling me about the day you had had. Congratulations." He finished.

Hadrian observed the man who was Neville's uncle and Alice Longbottom nee Greengrass' brother. Cygnus Greengrass had a genuine smile on his face and seemed quite relieved that his sister's son hadn't turned out to be a squib as many had feared. His dark black hair was combed back neatly, giving him an aristocratic look while his bright blue eyes still shined with the sparkle that he must have had in his youth. And though he must be somewhere in his thirties, the man barely looked older than 25; just like every other magical, he had aged much slower than muggles.

Though behind this charming persona was hidden a shrewd politician. He was a wolf in sheep's skin.

"Yes, quite a day you had there Neville. Congratulations." Elladora Greengrass gave the pureblood boy a small though warm smile.

And Hadrian turned to look at the woman. Elladora Greengrass was a woman who was beautiful and knew it. Her dark wavy hair snaked around her waist giving her an unearthly look but unlike her husband, whose blue eyes always held a sparkle, her blue eyes were always cold, warming up only for those she considered family. And for the rest of the world, her eyes held nothing but cold calculating contempt.

Though it was not her eyes that scared away her enemies, no, no it were her many masks. The several masks that she always wore, leaving it to the world to determine, which mask was truly Elladora and which mask was just a mask.

Besides that, just like her husband and other magicals, she too had aged slower than muggles. Thus even though she was in her thirties, she looked even younger than her husband; she looked no older than 21 or 22 at the most.

"And who would this little tyke be?" Cygnus questioned with a smile, causing the attention of the room to shift to Hadrian momentarily.

Hadrian shuffled his feet, a little nervous at meeting people who hadn't been previously considered in his plans. But before he could say anything, Longbottom matriarch spoke up. "Neville!" She prompted her grandson. "Wouldn't you introduce your guest?" She asked.

Neville colored a bit but proceeded to give introductions. He introduced Hadrian as 'James Mason' (that was the last name he had provided the Longbottoms) and then he proceeded to introduce his uncle's family.

"So this is the gentleman that has been keeping you company all these days?" Cygnus asked and smiled at Hadrian kindly. "And here I thought that you were hiding from Daphne's tea parties!" He teased.

Cygnus got a few chuckles from the ladies and Astoria in response while Daphne narrowed her eyes at her father and huffed.

"Why don't you all go outside and play?" Elladora suggested the kids and all four of them brightened at the thought.

"Well run along then?" Augusta said shooing them away and the kids followed Neville out.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Once outside, the kids stood there in awkward silence for a moment, as the 4 of them did not interact well with each other.

Earlier whenever Neville had visited the Greengrass' -or the other way around- he had always played tea with Daphne and Astoria even if he had not wanted to, he had never raised his own opinions and had just always done what he had been told; back then he had been a pushover. But now, things had changed. Now Neville's friendship with Hadrian had changed the boy a little and he had begun voicing his disagreements.

This change had been puzzling for Daphne, who was used to her mellow cousin doing what she told him to do. He had also never said no to any of her request but that had changed when he had befriended this other boy that he had met in the nursery.

Since Neville had met that damned boy, he had also decreased the frequency of his visits. He didn't come as often as he had used to and this had upset Daphne. She now had to put up with Astoria who just wouldn't listen to her. That brat.

Thus it was understandable that Daphne did not particularly like Hadrian, or as she knew him, James.

"Let's play tea?" Daphne stated more than asked. Neville made a face at that but said nothing while Hadrian made a face and then raised an eyebrow.

"Let's not." Hadrian answered back. Daphne turned to look at him and gave the black haired boy a look questioning his sanity. She then crossed her hands over her chest and stared at him. She did not like this boy and finally had a chance to test the lessons she had been receiving from her mother on someone.

Hadrian observed the girl. She was her mother's daughter that was for sure. She, like her mother, had dark midnight hair and cool blue eyes that could give freeze the world over and over again but Daphne had yet to achieve that level of efficiency, as of now Daphne's eyes only gave a cold aloof look.

Well Hadrian was not falling for that. Daphne may be her mother's daughter but she was still a child. "A game of tag?" He asked and crossed his hands over his chest too as he stared at the girl with his own eyebrow raised as if asking, what about that?

Daphne narrowed her eyes at the stupid boy who was copying her; she really did not like this boy. "No." She answered in a single syllable, not deeming him smart enough to even waste more words on. She was not sure he would understand her if she did.

Hadrian noticed the witch's reaction and narrowed his eyes too. Well two could play this game.

Daphne continued to stare -with narrowed eyes- at the stupid boy who had the stupidest face in the whole wide world. She really, really did not like this boy now. Her eyebrows twitched at the thought.

Neville stared at the ongoing staring match between his cousin and his best friend with his mouth wide open, not knowing what to do.

While Astoria, not knowing what was happening, watched the match with wide eyes as her mouth took shape of a perfectly circled 'O'. The four year old, unlike her older sister, was purely her father's daughter. She had her father's dark hair and his bright sparkly blue eyes with all the mischief of the world encompassed in them like only a four year old could.

Hadrian having had enough of the staring match blew a raspberry at Daphne, catching the pureblood princess completely by surprise.

Neville blinked owlishly at the unexpected turn of events while Daphne spluttered, having been caught completely off guard. Astoria, on the other hand, giggled merrily at the sound and blew her own raspberry at Hadrian who smiled brilliantly at the 4 year old.

Neville looked at them both, his best friend who was smirking with satisfaction and his cousin who was glaring daggers at the smug boy and decided it was time to interfere. "Exploding snap anyone?" He asked desperately.

"Yay!" Astoria jumped up and down in joy. "Ecp'odin' snap! Ecp'odin' s'ap!" She parroted as she clapped.

Noticing that there was a proposal that the opposition party had not made, both Hadrian and Daphne agreed simultaneously. "Fine!" They said together, causing Astoria to burst into giggles once again and Daphne and Hadrian to glare at each other.

Neville breathed a long heavy sigh. It was going to be a long, long day.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Hadrian left the Longbottom Hall as usual i.e. after giving Longbottom matriarch his patent excuse that he'll take the night bus home. Leaving Longbottom Hall, he walked down the road till he reached the nearest market and summoned a few strands of hair from a random muggle.

"Ow!" He heard someone cry in the background and hissed an apology that went unheard by everyone. He took out the flask of polyjuice potion that he had bought from the Knockturn alley the last time he had been there and ceremonially dropped the hairs in it. The potion bubbled for a bit and turned murky brown. Hadrian grimaced. It would taste bad, of that he was sure.

With that done, he found a dark alley and apparated away to private drive, he had work to do.

Once back in private drive, he went directly to his room and after stripping, downed the polyjuice potion in one go. The effects were immediate and he felt his body beginning to change under the effect of the potion as it began stretching and started to lengthen as he gained weight.

He felt his face stretching in all directions as his skin bubbled. It was a weird experience but he was used to it by now. After all, every time but the first time, he had gone to daigon alley he had used polyjuice potion to disguise himself. He would have used polyjuice the first time too but was afraid that Blood rituals –unforgiving as they were- might not recognize his claim if he went with someone else's DNA in his body. Thus he had to resort to the usage of aging potions.

Dressing up in the clothes his size, Hadrian casted a notice-me-not charm and left the private drive for Daigon Alley.

Nodding at Tom, Hadrian made way past the barrier and walked up directly to a pet shop called Magical Meanagre.

This shop, unlike any other pet shop, was devoid of the ruckus that cacophony of animal noise cause. There were cages containing various animals and the tanks having different fishes, and all of them were stacked neatly in shelves with silencing charms placed upon them while bird cages were hanging from the roof.

Hadrian entered the shop and was greeted by a portly old man. The man smiled at Hadrian, "What can I do for yah?" He asked in a slightly accented voice.

"I need a post owl." Hadrian answered the shopkeeper and looked around the shop, searching for something that he liked. His eyes fell on the boxes of snakes lined up in the back and that brought up a question.

Should he or should he not? He did not know. After all, the last time he had done something impulsive, the result had been Neville accessing his magic three years earlier than he was supposed to. Not that that it was bad but it was certainly dangerous. Thus he was a little wary of his impulsive decisions.

"Yeah well, what kind do yah need?" The shopkeeper asked, breaking Hadrian's line of thought. The man waved his wand, causing the cages to come down to their eye level. "We 'ave all sorts of owls 'ere. These are barn owls, modest and good they are and know what they do." He said as he waved his wand and cages containing barn owls rushed towards them. Though the owls inside didn't seem to like it very much as they flapped their wings and seemed to hoot behind the silencing charms in protest.

"Or if you like somethin' more fancy then we 'ave snowy white owls. Beautiful creatures let me tell yah." He waved his wand again and this time cages containing snowy owls rushed towards them and again the owls inside flapped their wings and seemed to hoot behind the silencing charms in protest.

Hadrian searched through the snowy owls, looking for Hedwig but as expected the snowy owl was not among them. Hadrian held in a sigh, Hedwig was too young to have even born yet.

Hadrian stopped his dark musings; there was no point in crying over what was beyond his control. "Something more regal perhaps." He said stopping the circus that the shopkeeper had initiated. "Do you by any chance have eagle owls?"

The shopkeeper whistled, "That's some pretty galleon yah will be partin' with for an owl." He said in surprise but quickly realized that he was dissuading a rich customer and backtracked, "But nothings as beautiful as an eagle owl. And damn fast too, London to Yorkshire* in less than an hour, fastest bird that there is. Bright as day too, the bird is, let me tell yah. Probably understands what yah say to it, I think." The shopkeeper rambled on but waved his wand again and all the cages went back to their original position and a single cage came forward.

Hadrian looked at the bird inside the cage and nodded. By the way it had its head tucked beneath its wings, the bird seemed asleep at the moment but that did not make it look any less beautiful. The creature was midnight black in color and seemed to have the softest feathers.

"Yah like it then." The shopkeeper said as he judged Hadrian's reaction. "Let mah remove the charms for yah." He said and tapped the hook of the cage with his wand once. There was a soft shimmer and the owl seemed to squirm as it began to wake up. The creature looked up and searched its surrounding, its wide purple eyes analyzing everything.

Hadrian ran his finger through the bars of the cage and petted the bird lightly. "Would you like to come with me, big fella?" He asked the bird. The bird though continued to look at him as he petted it and then began scratching its wings with its beak. Hadrian let out a hearty laugh, _'understands humans' _indeed. Though it was wrong of him to expect near-Hedwig like intelligence from other owls, Hedwig was special.

The shopkeeper laughed too -though somewhat confusingly- as he did not understand the reason why his customer was laughing. "I'll wrap everythin' for yah." He told his customer and asked for the preferred the method of payment. "Coin or key?"

"Oh that's not all." Hadrian answered the portly man as he made another impromptu decision and moved towards the reptile section, the shopkeeper dutifully followed him.

"Ah nice choice, nice creatures they are, the snakes that is." The portly man continued buttering up Hadrian. "A must 'ave for any pureblood, I tell yah. But I don' need to yah that, now do I?" He laughed nervously at his statement.

Hadrian ignored the shopkeeper; the man did not know what he was talking about and just wanted to sell as much as he could.

"We jus' received a nice shipment, we did. And jus' this week too. Yah jus' wait a moment." The shopkeeper said as he waived his wand again and the cages began moving, bringing forth the brightest and the biggest –and most probably the costliest- snakes the store had.

"I am not looking for something flashy." Hadrian told the shopkeeper, whose face fell at the news as he stopped waving his wand around. "Do you have King Cobras by any chance?" The shopkeeper nodded in affirmative. "Bring out the older ones first then." Hadrian told the portly man.

The shopkeeper frowned but waved his wand again causing a couple of old glass cases to come forth containing massive sleeping cobras. "These are the oldest ones mah 'as." He told his customer. "The left one's male, he is. 12 years old. And right one's female, that one. 18 years old."

"Are they the only ones you have?" Hadrian asked the shopkeeper, who nodded in affirmative.

"Would you remove the charms from the case of the female then?" The shopkeeper looked at Hadrian oddly and stepped back as he waved his wand. The case shimmered lightly and the sleeping snake inside the case began to stir.

The creature reared its head up and _tasted_ the air as it let its tongue out. It then turned its massive head to left and then to right, analyzing it's surrounding. _"…sssun…"_ It hissed lazily.

Hadrian carefully picked the snake up and turned towards the shopkeeper who backed away slightly. "Isn't she a beauty?" He asked the portly man, who nodded warily.

"That she is, beautiful that is." The shopkeeper answered as he stopped nodding.

Hadrian smiled at the man and placed his hand on the man's shoulder, "Come on, and pet her." He told the man as he pushed him towards the snake. The shopkeeper whimpered and Hadrian stunned the man.

At that moment, Hadrian was very thankful that his touch based magic was very different from the wand based magic because Hadrian was sure that this store, like every other store, was sure to have a Recorder Quill that records every spell performed within an area. And if his magic had been recorded, then things might have gotten messy. Hadrian let out a relieved sigh.

Half his work done, Hadrian turned towards the snake and asked, _"Hello there beautiful. Would you like to come with me?" _

The snake turned his head to look at Hadrian and hissed, "…sssun…"

Hadrian sighed and casted a warming charm on the snake. The bloody cold blooded creatures. _"So what do you say?" _He asked the snake once again.

The creature let out its tongue and _tasted_ the air. _"…wizard…wants…what…?"_ The snake questioned back.

Hadrian sighed again, he had totally forgotten about the intelligence level of snakes. Everyone just assumed that since parseltongue was the language of snakes, snake must be some intelligent race of creatures…able to form coherent sentences and hold lengthy informative conversations and such but that was not true.

Sure they were intelligent creatures but that was true when compared to other beasts. Most snakes were nothing compared to any sentient race. They, like all other beast, were primal creatures, living only to eat, sleep and reproduce. Though there were few exceptions but they were far and few and were always extremely, extremely magical in nature while in between them were mindless primal creatures.

"_Would you come with me?"_ Hadrian asked the snake again somewhat tiredly.

The creature let out its tongue again and asked back, _"…why…?…me…old…too old…!"_

Hadrian stared at the creature oddly, for a snake, this one was highly suspicious. But seeing no harm in explaining his reasons, Hadrian explained to the snake what his plans were.

The snake bobbed its head up and down as Hadrian explained his plans and finally answered Hadrian's question, _"…me life…not much…old…very old…"_

Hadrian nodded at the creature's pronouncement, encouraging it to continue. _"…will…do…butss…" _The creature hissed.

Hadrian stood there stunned. Was this snake kidding him? Really? Was this snake really putting forth conditions? How had this snake gotten this smart? It was supposed to be a mindless primal being!

Hadrian shook his head to clear it out and answered the creature in disbelief, "Yeah, you can have whatever you want."

The creature bobbed its head and let out its tongue to _taste_ the air. "_…gnomesss…impss…fairy …doxy…pixies…eat…"_

Hadrian raised an eyebrow at the snake, that was a very long list and an extremely thought out one too? Just what was up with this snake?

Hadrian shook his head once again and letting the odd behavior of the snake go, he once again asked the creature, _"You sure, you will do it?"_

The snake let out its tongue as it replied, _"…yes…will…come…wise ones…"_

Hadrian raised an eyebrow at the weird answer but let it go. He had no intention of doing a course in snake psychology so he nodded at the snake and set it back in its cage.

With that done, he turned back to the shopkeeper, placed his hand on the man's shoulder and revived him. "Come on, wake up!" He said as he slapped the man lightly again and again.

"Wha…ho…I..What?" The man stuttered as he regained consciousness.

"You fainted when I asked you to pet the snake." Hadrian told the man as he helped the shopkeeper standup. And at the same time he casted a compulsion charm on the man to believe whatever Hadrian told him.

If Hadrian had been a little older or if his magic had been more settled than it was now, then Hadrian would not have had to go through all this tedious exercise just to make sure that the shopkeeper did not see him speaking parseltongue, instead he would have simply oblivated the man. But as it was, oblivation was an option that was not available to him as Hadrian was young and his magic was highly unstable to cast something as sophisticated as a memory charm. After all, Hadrian did not want the shopkeeper to end up in St. Mungos or something.

The shopkeeper began looking around as if searching for the snake after hearing Hadrian's answer. Hadrian noticed this and told the man, "Its back in its cage now. Do not worry." The shopkeeper calmed down a little after hearing that.

Hadrian raised an eyebrow at the shopkeeper, though Hadrian had stunned the man and made up the story but the fact was that this shopkeeper was afraid of snakes. It had been evident from the start by his body language.

"How do you do your business if you are afraid of the animals?" Hadrian asked the man. His curiosity was genuine.

"Mah fear of snakes only. None other beasts worry mah much." The shop keeper answered Hadrian and then continued, "Was bit by one once. Had to go to Mungos. Made me swell up real bad and all. Nasty business that. Real Nasty." He shuddered as he remembered the incident and continued. "Mah son handles snakes mostly but he's not here today. And can't send a customer back, now can I?" He grimaced at the thought.

Hadrian eyed the man but let it go. How this man handled his business was not his business. "Would you add some pixies, doxies, fairies, imps and gnomes for the snake? Make that a dozen each would you? And add some owl treats too." Hadrian told the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper nodded and smiled at the request. "Anything else." He asked. He hadn't had a sale this good in quite some while.

"That's all for now." Hadrian told the shopkeeper. "How much?" He asked.

The shopkeeper began adding up all of Hadrian's purchases, "That'll be 15 Galleons for owl, 6 galleons for snake and 1 galleon, 10sickle and 5 knuts for snake and owl treats." He told his customer and then summed it up. "So that adds up to 22 Galleons, 10 sickle and 5 knuts."

Looking up from the wrapped up owl and snake treats, the shopkeeper asked for preferred method of payment. "Coin or Key?" He asked.

"Coin." Hadrian answered the man and took out his bottomless bag. He counted 23 galleons and handed them to the shopkeeper. There was no way Hadrian was going to use his key to purchase anything. That would leave a parchment trail that he did not want. "Keep the change." Hadrian told the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper smiled brilliantly at his customer. It had been a very good sale for him. A very good one indeed.

"I still have some work to do." Hadrian told the shopkeeper. "Would you mind watching everything for me till I come back?" He asked with a polite smile.

The shopkeeper nodded enthusiastically; there was no way he was going to turn down such a generous customer. "Of course Mr…?" The shopkeeper asked.

"Madley." Hadrian answered.

"Of course Mr. Madley." The shopkeeper smiled as Hadrian left the store.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Leaving the pet store, Hadrian made way for the second stop of his visit, Knockturn alley. And as he approached the infamous alley, he steeled his nerves.

The thing was, that even though Hadrian had been to Knockturn alley for more times past year than he could count, but the infamous alley still gave him the creeps. His heart still raced as he neared the alley and his hands still clammed up. The part of him that was a child still feared the infamous alley and had still not gotten used to being there.

Reinforcing his occlumency shields, Hadrian tried to calm himself. It would not do for him to appear weak and fearful, especially not where he was going this time.

Hadrian had been re-creating his occlumency shields ever since he came back in anticipation of meeting Dumbledore and Snape. There was a nasty shock awaiting those two bastards. Also, in addition to protecting his mind, occlumency was also helping him with the integration between his two selves. The integration was much smoother than he had assumed it to be and it was only due to his practice of occlumency.

Calming his nerves, Hadrian entered the alley and walked farther in the alley than he had ever before, all the while maintaining a façade of peacefulness and calmness.

Soon, he reached a store that looked seedier and more unreliable than all the other stores of the alley and Hadrian knew he had reached his destination. After all there was no store in the alley that was as unreliable and as seedy as Borgin and Brukes.

Hadrian nodded to himself and entered the store. The store was as dingy looking on the inside as it was on the outside and there seemed to be nothing special about the store but Hadrian knew otherwise. Tom Riddle had not come to work in this store for nothing.

Hadrian felt eyes on him as soon as he entered the shop but didn't try searching for the owner of those eyes. He knew just who was watching him.

Ignoring the eyes watching his every move, Hadrian began looking around the shop but was careful enough not to touch anything. And as he searched for something useful, his eyes fell on what seemed to be a shriveled human hand mounted on a plate of some sort. It was ghastliest thing Hadrian had ever seen.

To any unknown person it would have been the creepiest thing but Hadrian knew better. The monstrosity that Hadrian was staring at, was known as Hand of Glory. If a burning candle was placed in the shriveled hand then the thing only gave light to its bearer and no one else. Hadrian could use such a thing.

On the other hand, someone else's eyes watched Hadrian roam in the shop, trying to find who this customer was or to find something that would give him an advantage over this customer. But as good as he was, his customer seemed to be better, as the newcomer gave nothing away.

With his spying exercise fruitless, Borgin came out of the shadows that he had been hiding in. "Somethin' yah need?" He asked his customer in an accented and hoarse but condescending voice.

"Many things." Answered his customer, causing Borgin to raise an eyebrow at the answer. "But I doubt many of them you could get me." His customer continued, causing Borgin to scowl at the man.

"Then what are yah doin' 'ere?" Borgin snapped at the man. "Be gone!"

His customer raised an eyebrow at him and placed something on the counter. "Despite what I believe, I was told that you could…procure things?" His customer said as the light from the candles was reflected off of the galleon that the customer had placed on the counter.

Borgin picked it up and eyed the galleon closely. It would not be the first time some fool tried using fake gold in his shop and if the galleon was indeed fake, then like those fools, this man too would come to know that just why his store was the most successful one in the alley.

And as his ominous line of thought continued, Borgin bit into the galleon, feeling his teeth sink into the gold and then being pushed back under the effect of goblin magic. This coin was real indeed.

Hadrian watched Borgin pocket the galleon after biting it. The man's demeanor changed instantly. "Welcome!" the creepy old man greeted. "What can I get yah?"

Hadrian raised an eyebrow at the instant change in personality but guessed that the shopkeeper might have had many a fools who tried cheating him. Well, it was not as if it was any of his business. "I am in need of Dragon's Flame." Hadrian told the lecherous man. "And was told that your store would be the ideal place to start my search."

"And yah were led correctly." Borgin smiled at Hadrian but it came out more as a leer than anything, causing Hadrian to hold in a grimace. "There aren't many things, I can't…procure."

"Hmmm." Hadrian gave the old man a thoughtful look. "We'll see." He said, "Now, Dragon's Flame?"

"Yes, Yes." Borgin said excitedly as he waved his wand. "Dragon's Flame it is."

And with his pronouncement and wand waving, the wall behind Borgin dissolved and a cupboard came forward. The cupboard had 4 shelves and each shelf had 3 candles which burned brilliantly with bright fire, though all candles differed in color and shades.

"Which one yah want?" Borgin asked Hadrian as he explained the candles. "We 'ave all the 12 Dragon's Flames. On the top are 'ungarian 'orntail, Chinese Fireball and Ukrainian Ironbelly. On th…" But Hadrian cut him off.

"Chinese fireball would suffice." Hadrian told the shopkeeper. For the purpose that he needed Dragon's Flame, the fire from a dragon that was most serpentine in nature would be best suited.

Borgin nodded and again waved his wand, causing the second candle to float forward. The man waved his wand again and another candle rushed to him –though this time unlighted- from somewhere deep in his store and he lighted it using the first candle. He waved his wand again and sent the first candle back to its original position.

"'ere yah go! Use it before sun's down." Borgin said lecherously as he pushed the second candle towards Hadrian. "'nything else I can get yah."

"Yes." Hadrian answered Borgin and raised his eyebrows at the man. "But before that, let us check that it is what you say it is."

"Ah! Yes." Borgin said and waved his wand again, causing a cloak of some kind to rush towards him.

"Invisibility Cloak." Borgin told Hadrian as he caught the flying cloth and donned the cloak, disappearing instantly.

"Dragon's Flame lets you see through most of the invisibility charms." Borgin's disembodied voice told Hadrian. "Bring the candle 'ere." The voice ordered.

Hadrian picked up the candle and took it where Borgin was last standing. And as soon as the light from the candle began to fall on the invisible man, a shimmering shape began to appear.

Hadrian nodded. It was Dragon's Flame indeed. "Now, a fire basin, if you would." Hadrian told Borgin the next item on his list and the creepy man nodded as he waved his wand.

Another wall dissolved behind Borgin and a large basin came out. The basin was reddish black in color and was big enough that a fully grown man could sit in it. Its exterior had arrays of runes etched into it and the resulting engravings were filled with some sort of black liquid. It stood balanced due to two supports that were attached to its base. "Original firecrab shell." Borgin remarked as he knocked on the shell, producing a distinct deep gong sound.

Hadrian raised an eyebrow and Borgin nodded. The shopkeeper brought the Dragon's flame and kept it under the basin for a few moments. He raised an eyebrow at Hadrian and Hadrian nodded. Dragon's Flame was extremely corrosive and very, very few things could withstand it. Firecrab shell being one of them.

"Fill the basin with wood from Belladonna and whooping willow." Hadrian told the shop keeper, who nodded. "And make that everlasting."

Borgin raised an eyebrow at that and said, "That would be 3 galleons a month." The wood that would be used was not free after all.

"List me down for 5 months." Hadrian told shopkeeper, who nodded.

Borgin then waved his wand and a few brown and black logs rushed towards him from a pile in the left corner of the shop. He waved his wand again and the logs placed themselves in the fire basin. Borgin then went ahead and tapped some runes on the basin with his wand and pressed his wand into a hole in the counter. "Done." He told Hadrian with what was supposed to be an easy smile. Hadrian, though, held in a grimace.

"Also add an Everlasting candle and Hand of Glory to the list." Hadrian told Borgin, who waved his wand again, causing a black candle and a shriveled hand mounted on a plate to float toward them. Borgin caught them both mid flight and placed them on the counter.

"Its 1 galleon a year." Borgin said as he raised an eyebrow, asking for the time limit of the candle.

"Put that down for 5 years." Hadrian answered the shopkeeper who tapped the candle with his wand, activating various runes and again pressed his wand into the same hole on the counter. Hadrian wanted to have the candle charmed for forever but that would mean giving his account information to Borgin -for collecting 1 galleon every year- which Hadrian could just not do. Not yet that is.

Hadrian waited for the man to finish adding the charms and asked, "Do you have in possession, powdered Unicorn Horn, Ironbelly eggshell and a phoenix feather?"

Both of Borgin's eyebrows got lost in his hairline as he raised them but it was to the credit of the man that he did not ask any questions, despite of his obvious curiosity.

"Of course." The man commented and again waved his wand various times, summoning a vial of powdered unicorn horn, one complete but broken eggshell of Ukrainian Ironbelly and a case containing single phoenix feather.

Hadrian eyed the contents and thought about his needs. "Make that 5 vials of powdered unicorn horn." He told Borgin who nodded and again waved his wand, summoning 4 more vials.

"Anything else yah need?" Borgin asked with his eyebrow raised.

Hadrian eyed all the items that he had purchased and thought back to all the things that he needed. He was sure he was forgetting something. "Hmm…" Hadrian tried to remember. "Yes..." He answered as he remembered what he needed. "30 vials of Ice potion." He told Borgin.

Borgin eyed Hadrian and then eyed the fire basin and Dragon's Flame and then again eyed Hadrian but like the previous time, Borgin held in his tongue. The old man waved his wand and summoned the required vial of potions.

"Somethin' else?" Borgin asked his customer. A customer who Borgin was sure was preparing to perform a ritual of some sort. For what else would anyone require all the items that this man had bought? Borgin was curious, oh so very curious but Borgin knew better than to ask. He had been in this line of business for a long time and he had survived by observing, analyzing and extrapolating, not by poking his nose in other people's business, directly that is.

His customer nodded and Borgin began wrapping up the purchases while he counted their price. He waved his wand and conjured a glass case for the Dragon's Flame for 15 galleons. He shrunk the Fire basin for 20 galleons and the wood for 15 galleons. He conjured a wooden box for Hand of Glory and wrapped it up for 50 Galleons. Everlasting candle was packed for 10 galleons while 5 galleons were added for extending its time period to 5 years.

The vials of powdered unicorn horn were shrunk and packed for 25 Galleons. The eggshell was wrapped for 30 galleons while phoenix feather got wrapped for 50 galleons. Similarly, the ice potion vials were shrunk and packed for 30 times 1 galleon and 10 sickles.

Borgin once more waved is wand, collecting everything in a box and then shrank it. "That'll be 251 Galleons and 13 sickles." Borgin told his customer, not even asking for preference between coin and key. Not many preferred using key in Knockturn alley, as using a key left a parchment trail in Gringotts and that was something that nobody wanted.

Borgin watched as his customer took out a pouch –bottomless, of that Borgin was sure- and asked for 252 galleons. The coins started flowing out of the pouch and started collecting on counter.

Hadrian picked the package and pocketed it while he waited for the coins to stop flowing out of his pouch. And as it finished, Hadrian asked the shopkeeper, "I hope our business will remain between us."

Borgin eyed Hadrian and answered. "Of course." He received a nod return as Hadrian left the store.

With that Hadrian left the infamous alley and returned to the Daigon Alley. There he picked up his purchases from the pet store and left for Private Drive.

He had to start the next phase of his plans.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

* * *

* I am assuming London and Yorkshire are far off places.

A/N 4: Now, I don't want to hear that my Daphne is bully or some such thing. She's a child of age 7, who was used to a certain way her cousin behaved, then suddenly her cousin's attitude changes towards her and he no longer wants to spend time with her. So obviously, she is not very happy with Neville. But she'll come around.

So, no bashing Daphne.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

* * *

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	6. VoD Chapter 6

A/N: I wanted this chapter posted before New Year and here it is! So, Happy New Year People!

Total Words: 7,596

Written By: Way Of Life

Unbeta'ed

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Hadrian returned to 4 Private Drive and began unpacking his purchases.

The first thing he did was to let the animals out of their cages. While the snake slithered around for a while before coiling itself in the sunlight directly below the window, the bird on the other hand flew out of its cage and circled around the room, unable to decide a place to land. Finally, after much encouragement from Hadrian, the owl landed on the desk.

Hadrian cursed loudly, of all the things to forget, he forgot to buy a perch for the owl. He sighed; sometimes he could be so…human.

After letting the animals out, Hadrian set the cages in the topmost shelf. While the snake's case was useless there, the owl's cage served as the housing for the bird until he bought a perch.

"Hey there big fella!" Hadrian said to the bird as he petted its soft feathers. "I forgot to buy you perch. I am sorry." He apologized to the creature though the bird just stared at him. The creature tilted its head once to the left and once to the right as it stared at Hadrian and then the owl blinked…well owlishly at him.

Hadrian sighed at the owl's unintelligent reaction. He just couldn't help comparing his new owl with his former faithful companion. "Well, for what it's worth, I'll buy it next time I go to the alley." He told the bird which turned away from him and started analyzing the room.

And while he was on the subject of pets, Hadrian decided to name his pets rather than procrastinate. He thought for a while but for some reason, time and time again, he kept coming back to the name Leo for the owl, even though there was nothing red or lion-ish about his midnight black owl. "How about Leo, big fella? Do you like it? Hmm?" He asked the owl, who turned back to its owner and gave an affirmative hoot.

"Hey!" Hadrian said to the owl as he smiled brightly. "You have some level of intelligence after all!" The answer to that was that the owl began flapping its wings at Hadrian as it hooted again and again in protest. Well the owl was not as stupid as it had seemed earlier.

"Okay! Okay!" Hadrian told the owl as he backed away from the bird. "How was I supposed to know you were intelligent?" He asked, "You were being all stupid."

Apparently, it was the wrong thing to say as the creature began flapping its wings even more vigorously and bit Hadrian's finger as it flew back to its cage. The owl hooted from its place and Hadrian thought that the hoot kind of sounded condescending.

"…_Humansss…!"_ The cobra's comment interrupted the byplay between Hadrian and Leo and even the snake, a race which was supposed to be barely intelligent, sounded exasperated. Just what was with Hadrian and unintelligent animals turning intelligent?

"_Ah that!"_ Hadrian answered the creature sheepishly. _"I would like give you a name, may I?"_ Hadrian asked the cobra.

"…_Name…?"_ The creature said though Hadrian was not sure whether the snake had commented or asked. So he explained, _"Yes, something to call you by."_ Hadrian answered. "_Can't always refer to you as The Snake, now can I?"_

The Cobra stared at Hadrian as it let its tongue out. _"…Name…"_ It hissed again but this time, Hadrian took it as a confirmation rather than a question.

"_Yes. Now, I was thinking of Virgo."_ Hadrian told the snake who continued to lay lazily in the sunlight. _"Seems kind of fitting, don't you think?"_ He asked the cobra who turned its massive head to look at its owner.

"…_you…like…name…?"_ The cobra asked Hadrian, its voice lethargic, showing its age. Hadrian nodded in affirmative. _"…then…me…like…"_ the cobra answered apathetically.

"_Well, okay then."_ Hadrian said as he scrunched his face in confusion. Did the cobra like its name or not? _"I'll call you Virgo from now on."_ He finished in the same confused state.

Virgo ignored her owner and continued to sunbath lazily. Hadrian sighed, now he was getting attitude from the reptilian equivalent of an old crone, for that is what Virgo was, an Old Crone.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

After unpacking all his purchases, Hadrian began preparations for which he had bought all the things.

He set the fire basin in the middle of the room and sprinkled a vial of powdered unicorn horn on the wood. With that done, he threw the Dragon flame into the basin, setting the wood ablaze.

The fire roared to life like a dragon challenging the mighty earth itself. Its silver and angry-red flames rose higher and higher, devouring up the wood like a hungry behemoth. Its flames swirled and expanded and swirled again but as the flames expanded, they crashed again and again onto the boundary of the basin. Those flames, time and time again, lashed out against the invisible walls of the basin that chained them, but the basin stood strong. But the flames were determined, they did not give up; they waited and they prowled as they snaked along the basin, waiting and ready to pounce.

"Good thing I added the powder beforehand." Hadrian commented to no one as he stumbled back at the sudden onslaught. "Who knows what the reaction would have been otherwise?"

He picked up the box containing the phoenix feather and tossed it into the basin. The fire destroyed the wooden box like a child ripping off the wrapping of a Christmas gift, turning the box to ashes within seconds and revealing the feather inside.

The orange feather floated in fire as if it was being caressed by the very flames themselves. It danced as it moved to the unheard tunes of fire, its movement rivaling the grace of most graceful of dancers. It rose and swirled and rose again until it floated down, only to rise again. It toyed with fire, playing with it as if it were a lost puppy.

But eventually the feather descended and with it the fire calmed down, it seemed as if the single feather from a phoenix had tamed the fire from most ferocious of dragons. The feather descended further and the fire tamed itself some more. Its flames no longer lashed out against the basin, they no longer waited at boundary of the basin ready to pounce. The flames no longer snaked around the edges, instead they retreated.

And finally the feather settled on the burning logs in the basin, with it, the fire settled down too, to a dull roar in the background.

And then the angry red from the flames began to fade as the feather began to burn. Its tiny hairs turned crisp and began to give off flames of bright orange light. And as the feather burned, the fire lost its color. The angry red continued to fade and change as bright orange took its place. And as the last remnants of the feather burned down, a beautiful sound echoed in the room for a second, reminding Hadrian of a phoenix song, all the while the fire changed its color to a mix of silver, red and brilliant orange.

After the fire settled, Hadrian sprinkled the second vial of the powdered unicorn horn on it and was rewarded with a much more mellowed out fire. He could almost hear soft sounds of neighing creatures in the far off distance.

He picked up the everlasting candle and lighted it up using the fire from the basin. Hadrian was going to save this fire. For this was no ordinary fire.

This fire had come to life by Dragon's flame eating up belladonna and whomping willow and was further fed the essences of a Unicorn and a Phoenix. This was no ordinary fire.

Dragon's flame, powerful as it was, was still a mindless beast. And belladonna –a poison sired by the very earth itself- had added its fatal and unforgiving nature to the fire, while whomping willow had given this mindless poisonous beast, a sense of binding responsibility of a guardian. For that was what whomping willow's nature was; it was a guardian with an unmatched and binding sense of responsibility to protect, to guard. It gave way to none until defeated and still stood proud, unbent and unyielding.

To this inferno, unicorn horn had given it its sense of purity, its sense of judgment. This fire sensed purity and malice and judged everything it came across on those standards. Nothing was out of its reach and nothing was hidden from it. The light it emitted was one of its tool as everything it touched, whispered its secret, unable to hide, unable to cheat.

To this fire, phoenix feather was added, the essence of a creature whose very presence proved painful to those with malice in their hearts. This fire not only judged but it rendered judgment and unlike unicorn and Phoenix, this fire was unforgiving and merciless, forced as it was under the binding and unyielding responsibility of a guardian

Thus, with the nature of unicorn, this fire judged.

With the nature of whomping willow and phoenix, this fire rendered judgment.

And with the nature of Dragon and belladonna, the judgment turned ferocious, unforgiving and merciless.

Let alone the fire, even the light it emitted judged and rendered judgment. Though temporary as it was, it still held power matched to none.

On everything it fell, the light forced its judgment. Secrets revealed themselves. Hidden became unhidden. Invisibility lost its power. And above all, magic revealed itself under the light, showing the truth that had been masked.

That was the power of just its light; its flame was even harsher and fiercer. Its flames enforced their judgment on everything they judged, leaving nothing behind. And unlike the judgment of light, the judgment of flames was eternal, irreversible and permanent.

Thus it was no surprise that the knowledge of this fire had been an ancient secret, known to few even back then and known to none but him now. It was protected fiercely in those times, and sought after even more so. Wars had been waged to control its power and civilizations had been razed to dust over it. Yet, none were willing to part with it, choosing instead to perish with the knowledge. As such, it had been lost to time.

But Hadrian had trained under the tutelage of most ancient of beings and from them he had learnt a few things, the knowledge of this fire being one of those things.

And this fire, mounted on Hand of Glory, would be available only to him. Its light will be seen only by him. It would be his weapon and used only by him. It shall help him and only him and none else.

Though, this usage of fire had not been present in his original plans. It was only after seeing the Hand of Glory that he had decided to use it like this. The risk, of someone accidently finding out what it did, had been too high otherwise.

With fire ablaze and candle lighted, Hadrian set the black candle in the reach of the shriveled up thing that was the Hand of Glory and the hideous thing snatched it out of his hand like a predator pouncing on its prey.

Hadrian grimaced at the monstrosity that was the Hand of Glory and shuddered at the ghastliness of it, the thing was made up of real human hand. It gave him the creeps.

Shaking himself, he searched for his snake. _"Virgo?"_ He called and the snake made a hissing noise from its resting place.

"_Remember your duty now Virgo."_ He told the snake. _"Watch this fire at all times; do not take your eyes off of it even for a second."_ He reminded the creature. _"It can happen anytime. It maybe now or it may be later, but you watch it. And you know what to do then, don't you?" _He said._ "Your real work begins after that."_

The massive snake hissed a sound that was affirmative and slithered nearer to the fire basin.

"_Now would you open your mouth?"_ Hadrian asked the cobra. _"You need to take Ice potion in case it happens." _He said as he picked up a vial of the potion and uncorked it.

The cobra obediently opened its massive jaw and Hadrian poured the entire content of the vial down the creature's throat. The creature shuddered immediately as its entire length shook under the effect of the potion. A chill had run down the snake's spine, which in this case just happened to be its entire length.

"_This is one dose for an adult human, so it shall last you for about a week." _He told the creature while it hissed angrily at the foulness of the potion._ "Do let me know when it starts to fade." _Hadrian reminded the snake firmly.

Well, that completed the part 1 and started part 2 of Phase 4 of his plans. Now it was time to initiate Phase 5.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

The Next Morning.

Morning dawned just as usual, as always and just as normal, as always. There was nothing abnormal about it; the sun rose in the east, as always; the birds chirped brightly, as always and he could hear the soft noises of his elf working in background, as always.

But still he knew that there was something different about this day, not abnormal per se, just different. And he knew, whatever it was, it was significant, for he could feel it in his very bones. Something was going to happen, something important, something so unexpected that it would be totally out of the blue, even with this warning.

He was sure it was no measly arrival of an unannounced guest or some such stupid thing, no this was something important, very, very important. And he tried, he really did; he tried to think through his long and faded memory, he tried using his family pensive but for the life of him, he couldn't figure it out.

In the end, he sighed and let it be. In his long life of almost 120 years, he had learned many things and one of those things was that sometimes it was better to let fate play its part.

But what he did not know was that it was not fate that was at play here, no, it was Hadrian James Potter.

As such, Arcturus Nigel Black sat on his patio, overlooking the vast garden of his summer house, drinking his usual morning tea and calmly ignored his gut feelings.

A soft pop announced the arrival of his elf. The creature silently placed all the morning mail of his master in addition to the Black family letter opener on the side table before bowing and popping away.

The old man picked up the family knife that was charmed for a very specific purpose and that purpose was to open letters. Now, this may seem as frivolous to some people but it was a necessity for the head of House of Black, for House of Black and especially Arcturus had many enemies, enemies who were more vultures than wizards and had more greed than magic in their bodies. And they would just love to see magic leave his body, leaving the old mage dead.

Arcturus smiled condescendingly at the thought, he might be suffering from many ailments but he was strong of magic; he was not going anywhere for quite some time.

Stowing that thought away, Arcturus picked up the silver knife and ran its sharp edge over his first mail, causing the envelope to open up without any glow and reveal the parchment inside. Arcturus glanced over the letter and sighed, it was from Cassiopeia and she was rambling as always. He set it aside to read it leisurely at a later date.

He ran the knife on the second letter and like last time, the letter did not begin to glow but unlike the last time it did not open up. Signifying that it was a formal mail sealed with Family Seal, or in Ministry's case, Seal of Ministry of Magic.

He took a sip of his tea as he picked up the letter and turned it over, trying to discern the source of letter and frowned for a bit. He did not recognize the symbol and could not associate any House with it. It was confusing, for he remembered the seal of every pureblood House of Great Britain, but then his age tarnished mind caught up and he recognized just which House had the seal that was a threstal imprinted on white wax.

It was only due to all the experience that he had accumulated in his old age and his pureblood upbringing that stopped his eyes from popping out of their sockets and stopped him from spraying out his tea.

As it was, his eyes just widened slightly and he froze mid-sip as he realized that the letter in his hand was from none other than the mysterious House of Peverell.

Placing his cup down, Arcturus again picked up the silver knife and cut open the seal, revealing the parchment within.

_Salutations._

_Head of Most Ancient and most Noble House of Black is invited by Head of Most Ancient and most Noble House Peverell, for tea at 10 am on Sunday morning tomorrow._

_Your response to this invite is not expected but your presence is._

_Venue: _

_Brian's café, Magnolia street, Muggle London_

_Sincerely _

_Lord Peverell_

_P.S. Wretched times we live in! Our country pitiful and our people miserable. But worst of all, our families!_

Arcturus read and reread the letter and then he read it again, causing many thoughts to race around his brain. Just what was Peverell playing at? What was this invitation about? And why him? Who else was coming? And just what did the Post script mean? He understood neither head nor tail of the blasted thing that was the post script.

Sighing, Arcturus let the matter be. Whatever it was, he'll find out tomorrow, won't he?

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

The Same Morning.

Hadrian woke up the next day only to find Leo resting in his cage and was assured that his letter had been delivered, for Leo was no slouch and if the bird was anything like his old Hedwig, then even suggesting something like that would result in Hadrian getting nipped, thus Hadrian asked his question indirectly, just like he used to ask Hedwig.

"Had a good flight, Leo?" He asked the bird with a smile but for all his efforts, the bird didn't react much. The creature just opened its eyes for a few precious moments to look at its owner and then went back to snoozing. Hadrian scowled at his pet and mumbled, assuming his pet won't hear, "Lazy bugger!"

But Hadrian had forgotten that his owl was an actual owl and that owls had better hearing than humans. Thus all his mumbling led to nothing as Leo heard him quiet clearly and the bird began screeching loudly in its cage. It almost seemed that the creature was promising slow and painful retribution for the insult but at the time was too lazy to come and deliver its threats.

Hadrian sighed and thanked Merlin for the silencing charms that he had placed on his room early on, they had saved his arse one too many times.

Leaving the screeching owl behind, Hadrian descended to the ground floor and headed straight to the telephone to call his firm, Findley and Benson. It was this firm that managed his muggle dealings.

But before he called, he cast a silencing charm and a notice-me-not around himself, so as not to cause suspicion. At the same time he modified his voice box a little, using his limited metamorphmagus skills to make his voice deep and bold, like that of a 30 year old man.

The phone rang three times before it was picked up by the receptionist. "Findley and Benson." She answered in a cheerily voice. "How may I help you?" She asked.

"Could you connect me to Mr. Benson please?" Hadrian answered back, just as politely.

"Who, should I tell Mr. Benson, is calling?" She asked politely but with a little condescension in her voice.

Hadrian wanted to giggle like a mischievous child; the condescension of the receptionist would vanish sooner than air from a deflating balloon when she comes to know just who was talking to.

"Ah, yes. Tell him, Lawrence Hale wants to talk to him." Hadrian answered somewhat smiling.

"Oh Mr. Hale. Of course." She answered, a little flustered. "I'll connect you within a moment."

And Hadrian smiled smugly; the child in him just couldn't resist the temptation. In the meanwhile there was a beep and then a gruff voice of Mr. Benson answered. "Ah Mr. Hale, what can I do for you today?"

With that the conversation flowed between them. Hadrian told the man where and how he wanted him money invested, which shares he wanted sold and which he wanted bought. He instructed the lawyer about various other changes that he wanted done and then he came to the second topic of discussion.

"Now Mr. Benson, are you familiar with area in the south of Wales, near cliff Torrington near the sea?" Hadrian asked his solicitor.

"Isn't that the area where ocean is filled with many cliffs and tides are very aggressive? The land there is completely barren too?" The lawyer asked.

"That it is, yes. I wish you to procure all the land there." Hadrian told the man.

Baffled and thoroughly confused, the solicitor asked again just to confirm that what he had heard was correct. "You wish to buy that land? It's completely useless. Industries are quite far away from there and so are towns. Anything built there would be in heavy loss." He reminded his client.

"It has been brought to my knowledge, yes." Hadrian told the man a little irritably. "Also the land belongs to crown, so you might not have it all that easy, procuring that one." Hadrian added as an afterthought.

"If that is what you want." The lawyer answer a little hesitantly, according to him the land was completely unprofitable.

"That is what I want, yes." Hadrian told his lawyer. "Now one more thing, if you could arrange for me to meet a few goons at 8 a.m. on Sunday, it would be marvelous."

"Excuse me?" The lawyer asked in a surprised tone, never expecting anything of this sort from Mr. Hale of all people.

"Goons." Hadrian repeated. "Hooligan, if you prefer the word or petty criminals, if you will. You know the type, the ones that shoot and rob for money, though not exactly a mercenary." Hadrian explained. "If you could arrange a meeting with them at Brian's café on Magnolia Street, London, it would be very nice."

"Mr. Hale, I don't think I can arrange that for you." Mr. Benson answered tightly.

"Oh come now Mr. Benson." Hadrian slightly admonished. "There's no need for you to hide your past clientele." Hadrian revealed the thing that the lawyer was trying to hide. "I am sure a few of your previous clients would be more than happy to get a job."

There was a pause on the line for a few moments before Mr. Benson continued in a hard voice. "Are you threatening me Hale?"

Hadrian paused; this was going in a very, very wrong direction. He needed to take control of the situation and soon or Benson could do something stupid. "Threatening you?" Hadrian asked with incredulity in his voice. "Why, one would have to be very foolish to threaten one's own lawyer." Hadrian proclaimed. "And though I am many things Mr. Benson but a fool, I am not."

"What I have asked you do is a business proposition like all the other things that you have done for me." Hadrian tried to soothe the man's nerve. "And I reminded you of your past to remove any inhibitions that you might have against offering such services to me."

Hadrian waited for a reply but when none came, he sighed and continued. "You need not worry Mr. Benson. I do not need your…less than honorable clientele for any nefarious purposes." Hadrian said to placate the man.

"A friend of mine will be dealing with an armed man soon and he needs people to have his back." Hadrian continued. "No life will be lost, of that I assure you. At the very most, they might have to shoot at legs or arms, to neutralize the man, that is. It's all a show of power, if you will."

The lawyer remained silent for a while before finally speaking, though his voice still remained cautious and tight. "You have a silver tongue Mr. Hale." He said and paused a moment, taking in account his life as a solicitor and continued, "A dangerous man you are."

Hadrian smiled at that. "You have been working for me for a year now Mr. Benson." Hadrian reminded the man. "You ought to have known that by now."

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Later that day.

Hadrian returned to the Private Drive later that afternoon, after his almost daily visit to Longbottom manor and unceremoniously flopped down on his bed. He was tired with all the running around Neville and he had done, it had been fun, though the fun had died out fast when Daphne had arrived. Did she not understand that boys did not like to play tea! The rest of his stay had been spent hiding from Daphne's ill thought-out plans.

Sighing, he ideally searched for Virgo and found the large cobra resting near the fire basin, basking in its warmth. _"Anything Virgo?"_ He asked the snake.

The snake in question stirred and turned towards its owner. _"…No…just…lizard…fire…eat…"_ It hissed in answer.

Hadrian sat up in excitement, all his soreness forgotten. _"A lizard you say?"_ Hadrian questioned and began thinking, _"Hmm… that means a fire salamander came out of the fire."_

Hadrian then again turned to the massive snake_, "And you ate it?"_ He asked. _"Do you feel different after eating it? Did eating a fire salamander burn you or harm you in any way?"_ He questioned further, his voice concerned.

The snake turned back to the fire and hissed in answer. _"…no…It…warm…"_

Hadrian let out a sigh of relief. He was not completely sure whether the Ice potion will work or not but now, finally his doubts were satisfied. _"The potion is working nicely then."_ He told the snake with a smile in his voice. And then he frowned and his voice turned strict, "_I know you don't like it Virgo, tell me as soon as the potion wears off." _He reminded her strictly and the snake began hissing in disagreement.

"_No."_ Hadrian replied firmly to the snake's unpleasant hissing. _"You have to take it, no arguments about that; you could seriously injure yourself otherwise."_ He stated and the snake turned away from its owner in a huff and continued its grumbled hissing.

Hadrian sighed and shook his head. Though Virgo might be as old as a crone but dealing with her was like dealing with a child.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Next Day.

The peace and silence of the quiet Magnolia Street was disturbed by a loud bang as a purple monstrosity of a bus made a sudden stop, though the residents didn't seem to mind the disturbance all that much as they continued doing whatever they were doing as if nothing had happened.

Out of the hideous thing, that was called the Night Bus by the witches and wizards of Great Britain, Arcturus Black stepped out gracefully.

Now, on any other day, the Head of the House Black wouldn't have lowered himself by entering into the Night Bus of all things but as the case was, he had to.

Arcturus Black, in all his pureblood glory, had never set foot in muggle London. And why would he? He was a filthy rich pureblood Lord and thus people came to meet him, he didn't go to meet anyone. And as such, he knew neither hide nor tail of anything muggle.

But the thing was that without knowing the location of a place, one couldn't apparate there. That left two options, floo and Night Bus. And Arcturus had tried to find a floo connection nearby, but it was his misfortune –that or it was cunningness of Peverell- that no floo connection existed anywhere near the thrice damned muggle street called Magnolia street.

And that left only one option, the hideous monstrosity that was called the Night Bus.

Arcturus Black stepped out of the bus and straightened himself as both his hands clutched the handle of his cane, giving the exact impression of an English Lord. He searched the neighborhood and after finding his destination, walked straight up to it.

Brian's café, just as its name suggested, was a very normal and quite place. Its interior was just like its clientele, i.e. nothing extraordinary. Since it was a Sunday morning and as such there were few patrons scattered all across the café, minding their own business.

Arcturus entered the café and was immediately waved over by a portly old man.

Arcturus hesitated; the man waving him was dressed perfectly muggle and had a cheerful smile plastered across his face. In addition to that, the man was old, nearing about 100 years of age -which meant nearing about 60 years of age by muggle standards- and sported a round belly. At a first glance, the man seemed like a friendly grandfather who lived just round the corner. In short, the man who was waving him over did not from give off an aura of a Lord, let alone a pureblood Lord.

Holding in a sigh, Arcturus made way towards his host and thought about the invitation. Though, at first he had been baffled by the unusual post script of the invitation, upon thinking about it, he found it very simple to unravel.

Peverell wanted to discuss politics, that much was clear to Arcturus. The statements Peverell made about the times they lived in and about the state of their country and their people, asserted this theory. But what confused Arcturus was the last line of post script, the line that talked about their families. What did Peverell mean by that? If Arcturus had to guess –and he had to- then he would say that Peverell wanted some sort of alliance, but that didn't make any sense. Why would Peverell need an alliance? They had been in hiding for several centuries without anyone knowing that they were alive, so what changed. Why did they come out of their seclusion? It all made no sense to him.

Well, he was here and he would get all his answers now, wouldn't he?

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Hadrian waved Arcturus over and saw Lord Black hesitate, causing him to smile internally. The guise that he had chosen had been chosen for this very purpose, i.e. to unsettle his guest a little. And it had worked perfectly on a pureblood Lord like Arcturus Black.

After all, Arcturus had been expecting a prissy uptight man who looked down upon everyone and everything; someone along the lines of Lucius Malfoy. Instead Lord Black found a cheery old man, who seemed like a friendly grandfather. As such, Lord Black was of course skeptical. And Hadrian had not helped his case when he had vigorously waved his hand like a loon to get the attention of the pureblood Lord.

As it was, Arcturus recovered from his hesitation quickly and sat at the table with his host. He reached inside his robe to take out his wand and cast some wards but his host stopped him. "All the wards are already in place." His host informed him and received a nod in reply.

Hadrian smiled amicably at his guest. "Welcome." He greeted as he subtly let the pureblood Lord see his ring, to confirm that he was indeed Lord Peverell. His greeting caused the old man to nod in reply.

"Care for a drink?" Hadrian asked. "A cup of tea perhaps?"

Arcturus eyed his host carefully and answered, though his voice was full of contempt and condescension, "I doubt these muggles have anything worth of drinking."

With that Arcturus let the silence fill the air and did not begin a conversation, nor did he ask the million questions that surrounded the enigmatic House of Peverell. He knew very well that he would not get any answers to those questions, after all, why would Peverell willingly part with the secrets that had kept his family safe for centuries. It was a fruitless exercise and he knew it. As such he waited for Peverell to start the conversation, resulting in gaining the old pureblood an upper hand in this meeting.

"Indeed." Hadrian replied after awhile and sat back as he relaxed. "I requested this meeting with you for a purpose Lord Black. The road our Nation is treading…will lead to unpleasant destinations."

Arcturus remained silent for a moment before replying, "That much you mentioned in your letter, yes." And then Arcturus raised an eyebrow to emphasize his point. "But the question is which road do you propose?"

Hadrian again smiled, causing his guest no less irritation. "Your Traditionalists block and Dumbledore's Progressive block have been in a tussle over for a long time now. Both have tried to drag the nation down their own roads and none have succeeded. The result has been stagnation of the society and our nation."

Arcturus wanted to scowl but refrained. If he had wanted a lecture in the politics, he would have talked to Polux.

Not knowing his guest's mental state, Hadrian continued. "All the while moderates are tugged from one Block to another, not owing their loyalty to anyone."

Arcturus kept a calm façade and asked, "Your point being?"

Hadrian smiled that irritating smile of his, "I propose to tip the balance that exists between Progressive block and Traditionalists block and to empower the moderates."

This time Arcturus smiled a smile that said he was talking to a child. "My dear Lord Peverell, it seems that the centuries of self-exile from the wizengamot, has caused the political skill of your House to become rusty." He said in a biting tone. "You are not the first one to propose such an idea. This very plan has been tried several times and each time it has failed to achieve its objective spectacularly."

"All it results in is empowering either of the two blocks that it had originally sought to weaken." Arcturus continued uninterested. "That would be a doomed effort from before even it began."

"Diamonds don't rust Lord Black, iron does." Hadrian answered with a smile as he caressed the diamond of his ring.

Arcturus narrowed his eyes at the implied insult and replied, "Then let us see the brilliance of diamonds Lord Peverell. Because from where I see, I see nothing but coal."

The part of Hadrian that was a child wanted to rage at the direct insult but the part of him that was a trained adult took control and as such he just narrowed his eyes at the insult. "Diamonds shine only in Light, Lord Black." Hadrian answered swiftly, leaving the older man to interpret his sentence as whatever he wanted to.

Arcturus neutralized his expressions and began to reply but before he could say anything he was cut off by his host. "But that is not all that I wanted to talk to you about." Hadrian said. "In spite of wherever the blocks lead us, I wish to propose an alliance between our Houses."

Arcturus raised an eyebrow, he was correct in assuming after all. Peverell had indeed wanted an alliance. "And what would this alliance entail?" He asked curious but his voice remained nonchalant.

"Oh nothing much." Hadrian replied just as nonchalantly. "Just your unconditional support when asked for." Hadrian finished as if he was asked condition of weather and not the unconditional support of House Black.

Arcturus smiled a condescending smile and answered, "House of Peverell just might have to sell itself and then some more, to fulfill your desires Lord Peverell." Arcturus said. "Loyalty of House Black is not something many can afford."

Hadrian smiled serenely at that and asked, "What is your life worth Lord Black?"

Arcturus was immediately aware of the threat he could possibly be in, but he force his expressions to remain as nonchalant as ever. Discreetly, he searched the café and found many men giving them more attention than what was required. _'Peverell's men.' _He thought.

Turning his attention back to his host, Arcturus commented, "I had taken you for a clever man Peverell." Arcturus commented calmly, "Threatening me to enter into an alliance?" he asked with a little incredulity in his voice. "I suppose I was wrong." Arcturus baited his host, while thinking of ways to get out of the situation safely.

"Threatening you?" Hadrian asked with an incredulous expression on his face. "Why I never!" He gasped dramatically.

"I was making you aware of the risk that you are in, at your own home." Hadrian commented with a little disbelief in his voice. "My dear Lord Black, you wound me." He finished with a little mockery and a little mischief in his voice.

Arcturus raised an eyebrow, risk in his own home? His curiosity was now peaked but he did not let that show. "Pardon me Peverell for being presumptuous but Black properties are the safest properties in all of Britain, including Hogwarts and Gringotts." He commented proudly, all the while provoking his host to show his cards.

Hadrian smiled and easily fell into Arcturus' trap. "That may be true Black but you are still being poisoned in your own house."

Arcturus silently stared at his host with his eyebrow still raised.

Hadrian smiled again. "Do you not believe me?" He asked with a condescending smile. "Why don't you check yourself? I am sure you know the spells." And then he raised his arms in a stop sign, making it face towards the rest of the clientele.

Arcturus stared at the raised hand of his host in question.

"Did you really think that I came here alone?" Hadrian asked. "I am not daft Lord Black."

When Arcturus made no move to check for the poison, Hadrian dropped another bombshell, "And that is the compulsion charm stopping you." He prompted. "Go ahead. Cast your spells."

And Arcturus did. He cast the spells that checked for poisons and compulsions, both giving positive result.

"I believe it's appropriate to tell you now, that the way you are being poised is quite ingenius." Hadrian commented lightly. "I myself had a lot of trouble finding just how it was done and I had a lot of help." In other words, Arcturus needed Hadrian to tell him how the old pureblood was being poisoned.

Arcturus began to panic internally but controlled himself; he had to take a decision, decision that would affect his very life. But he could not be selfish at the moment; for he was, at the moment, Lord of most Noble and most Ancient House of Black not Arcturus Nigel Black, a diseased old wizard. He would have to take the decision, not for his own sake but for the sake of his House, for he was Lord Black and nothing else.

"It seems your knowledge is indeed accurate." Arcturus replied somewhat calmly. "But I am an old man, fated to die sooner rather than later." He said as he turned to look at his host. "As such my life alone is not worth binding House Black to House Peverell."

"Quite true that." Hadrian commented, surprising Arcturus. The old pureblood had not expected his host to agree with him. "That is why I also offer one more thing in exchange of our alliance."

Arcturus raised an eyebrow, still a little surprised. "And what would that be."

Hadrian smiled. "Revival of House Black." He answered the old pureblood. "You are too old to take a new wife and the only other male carrying the name Black is rotting away in Azkaban. Your family name is dead."

Arcturus -who had regained his composure somewhat now- replied bitingly, unimpressed. "I don't see how stating the obvious will revive the Black name?"

Hadrian smiled and began explaining his plan. It took quite some while, but all the details were discussed and explained.

"It is possible, difficult to pull off but plausible." Arcturus commented as he thought about the plan.

"Of course it's plausible." Hadrian commented. "I don't do things halfway Black."

"It does seem so." Arcturus commented as he smiled for the first time in a very long time.

If Arcturus had not been this happy, he would have sighed. Peverell had him cornered; the man had offered the old pureblood Lord such a deal that he could not refuse. And the worst part was that he even thought he knew all the plans, he still couldn't use them if he refused the deal.

Arcturus was sure that if he refused the deal then he would be bound and oblivated, with no knowledge of this meeting or a false memory of the meeting.

What Arcturus didn't know was that Hadrian couldn't oblivate anyone himself, as his magic was too unstable for that and that Hadrian had hired muggles as his backup. Arcturus believed that the men that were paying attention to them were wizards. Had he known they were muggles, he would have decided differently.

As it was, Arcturus fell for Hadrian's bluff.

Coming out of his musings, he remembered one thing that Peverell had yet to tell him. As such, he looked up at his host and asked, "How was I poisoned?"

Hadrian stared at his guest and smiled, "Your elf." He stated. "It has been Imperiusised."

Arcturus sat back as he thought about that. It really was ingenius, the method of poisoning that is. Never in his life would he have thought that Tibby of all things would be poisoning him. After all, the loyalty that an elf had for its master was unwavering. And besides that too, an elf was an elf, they were nothing to think about. They were servant who worked in the background and nothing else. Who would have thought about using such creatures in such a manner?

"By whom?" Arcturus asked his host.

Hadrian raised an eyebrow and asked back, "Do you really need to ask?" It was after all very clear. Though there were many people who would gain if Arcturus died but there was only one person that stood to gain everything from Arcturus' Death.

The old pureblood sighed, "Malfoy." He commented and Hadrian nodded in affirmative, there was only one culprit and no one else.

"As nice it is chatting to you Lord Black," Hadrian commented, attracting his guest's attention. "I would prefer if we could move forward with the alliance."

"Of course." The old pureblood nodded as he understood what was being asked. Since the terms of alliance had not been previously discussed, thus a contract had not been prepared. But now, that the terms had been discussed, a contract would be prepared and signed. But to make sure that it happens, Arcturus would have to give an oath as Hadrian had already fulfilled his part of the deal.

And that was what Hadrian was asking now, an oath, which Arcturus gave willingly.

Seeing that the old pureblood was lost in his own self, Hadrian commented, "Cheer up now Black! After a long time good things are going to happen for your House."

"That it is." The old pureblood agreed with a laugh. "That it is."

Hadrian laughed too with the pureblood and took out a flask. He took a long sip from it and shook his head vigorously. "Bloody things burns like hell." He said. "But there's nothing like Ogden's, is there?" And he laughed again.

Arcturus smiled slightly but said nothing and when his host had put aside his morning drink, he shook Peverell's hand.

"To the new alliance and to the revival of House Black." Arcturus said, his voice containing happiness after a very long time.

"To the revival of House Black." Hadrian repeated happily as he too laughed. "And to the death of Sirius Black!"

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

A/N: Now, before you all begin to flame me, think, think and think. And if you still want to flame me, then again think.

IMPORTANT A/N: From now on, I have decided to reward those who review. As such everyone who reviews will get a sneak-peak in the next chapter, just like this time.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

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	7. VoD Chapter 7

A/N: I have a feeling that I'll be receiving a flame or two after this chapter, for one reason or another.

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Total Words: 8,033

Written By: Way Of Life

Unbeta'ed

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His meeting with Arcturus over, Hadrian paid the goons and apparated away to the Privet Drive and followed his normal routine, waiting for the night to come; for –if he had decided on it- with the fall of night, he would enact another phase of his plans i.e. Phase 6.

Now, all of Hadrian's plans were well underway and some were even showing very good progress but the thing was that all those plans -except the first and second that is- were not all that risky and he was not talking about the risk to his life, here, Hadrian was talking about the risk of being found out by Fates. And Hadrian did not want to be found out by them, now did he?

But besides that, Hadrian knew that even if the Fates were spread too thin due to all the chaos that he had created by destroying their well calculated plans, he should have attracted the attention of the Fates by now. If not the first plan then the second plan should have done that. After all, in his second plan Hadrian had given a very big clue, as he had taken up his Lordship of the Peverell House.

And if there was one thing that the Fates knew better than anyone, then it would be History, after all they had manipulated the entire thing out and as such, nothing of the past was hidden from them. Thus Hadrian should have attracted the attention of the Fates. But the thing was –as Hadrian presumed- that the Fates were too busy bringing their foiled plans back on track and this was what Hadrian had been counting on, the trinity being too busy.

But what Hadrian didn't know or hadn't counted in his plans was that even if Fates were extremely busy, they were never too busy to keep tabs on their personal project of magical Britain.

And as such Fates kept on checking their personal project, time and time again.

But fortunately for him, there was someone that was even more interested in Hadrian that the Fates and Thantos. And it was this entity that was hiding Hadrian's miscalculations from the heavenly trinity. After all, this entity had its own plans for the mortal.

Huh, it seems that Hadrian was becoming a nice little human magnet for the heavenly beings.

But all this was not what was going through Hadrian's mind, no, Hadrian was deciding whether should he execute next phase of his plans or not, and if it was to be executed then how should that be done.

Hadrian was indecisive about this move of his. After all, this move -if executed perfectly- would create a rift –not a major one*, but a rift for sure- in the future of muggle Britain from what it should be, according to Fates that is.

Thus the reason for his indecisiveness -to change or not change the future of muggle Britain- was clear because if he did, there was no escaping the attention of Fates, for such a change would definitely attract the attention of the heavenly trinity.

As such, this indecisiveness kept Hadrian busy that day, for Hadrian did not like being indecisive. He was a man of action and as such was spontaneous. But the situation being what it was, the night fell and he still wasn't able to decide.

Irritated and frustrated, Hadrian decided to set up the plan and wait. He would decide on its execution later, after he had thought more about it but that did not mean that he would let the chance go and hence he was going to set up the plan. Once that was done, he would have time to think about the decision until the trigger was triggered. And he had an idea when that would happen, as such he decided to wait and relax.

His path decided, Hadrian left the Privet Drive and crossed the boundary of the wards. Not wasting any more time, he quickly cast a disillusionment charm and a strong notice-me-not charm on himself. He needed to work quickly, as his magic being as unstable as it was, he did not know when the charms would collapse. And he could not afford detection in the muggle place that was under heavy surveillance. Not in any case.

Once that was done, Hadrian apparated to his destination.

But the thing was that the destination to which he had apparated was not some lousy place. No, it was one of the most protected places of Britain, muggle and magical alike and as such, apparating there was impossible.

But wizards were wizards and everyone knew that the purebloods that formed the government did not trust the muggles one bit. As such, when warding this place, wizards had left a loophole in the wards that none but the Minister of Magic was privy to.

But we all know that Hadrian was Hadrian and as such was privy to things that he really should not, thus when Hadrian apparated, he bypassed the wards and apparatd to the only area that was not covered by the heavy wards.

Manifesting in a broom cupboard, Hadrian scrunched his nose at the smell as he came out of the storage furniture and began searching for his intended target. Having a vague idea of just where his target would be, helped Hadrian in locating his target.

Finding the room was easy once he reached in the vicinity of his target, as it was only room with two funnily** dressed men standing guard.

He entered the room without the guards noticing -his charms helped him there- and found the person that he had been searching. It was a child, no more than 5 years old and was sleeping blissfully.

"Hello." Hadrian whispered so as not to wake the child up. "Worry not; all your questions will be answered." He paused and thought about his statement and continued, "Or you won't have any questions."

Hadrian placed his hand on the child's forehead and cast a standard detection charm -a charm used by most wizards and witches to keep a track of their children in case the child performed accidental magic- that would inform Hadrian whenever this child performed accidental magic.

But Hadrian' core was not as stable as the core of an average witch or wizard, his core was still under the process of amalgamation and as such with the additional strain, he felt the disillusionment charm fall.

Hadrian cursed mentally and for the thousandth time wished he had a house elf. Things like this trip would be so simple, so easy; he wouldn't even have to be here to have such things done.

He sighed, as nice it would be to have an elf, he couldn't and not because he didn't have money to buy elves or had any moral restriction, no, it was no such stupid thing. In fact, he knew that his family owned many elves, all of which he was sure worked at Hogwarts currently; after all, elves do need someone or something to support their magic.

No, it was the same old reason which had stunted him in many other fields. It was his magic. The blasted thing was not stable enough to cast multiple spells by touch –though wand magic was a different scenario- to let alone support an elf's magic.

He sighed again and discreetly made his way towards the broom closet in which he had originally appeared. With that done, Hadrian came back to the Privet Drive. He had no intention of spending anymore time in the heavily guarded place than necessary.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

**Four Months Later**

The next few months passed relatively quietly for Hadrian, though same could not be said for Arcturus. Where Hadrian had been peacefully working through his life, the old pureblood Lord on the other hand had to take _'a vacation on the continent'_; at least, that was what Lord Black had replied to various enquires about his visit, from various _'Vultures'_ and more importantly, from one notorious Lucius Malfoy.

Once on the continent, Arcturus had begun his search, his search of the replacement of Lord Black. But between his age being what it was and dodging whatever vile plans that had no doubt been devised by Lucius the nefarious, it was not easy for the old pureblood. But Arcturus was getting by; he was man on a mission and had a plan to follow.

Now, the plan that Arcturus was so diligently working upon, was the same plan that was proposed by none other than the mysterious Lord Peverell. And what a marvelous plan it was!

The beauty of the plan was that its complexity was hidden by apparent simplicity. On a cursory glance it would seem to be one of the simplest solutions possible; do this, then do that and voila! Goal achieved!

But as this plan was a product of the mind of one Hadrian James Potter, it was obviously not as simple as it seemed. It was as tricky as its creator. After all, Hadrian James Potter was not all he seemed. Firstly, Hadrian was paranoid, a little more than it was healthy, and as such he trusted none that hadn't been tested by him previously, quite like the retired auror named Alastair 'Mad Eye' Moody. And secondly, he believed in having backups for backups i.e. contingencies of contingencies.

Thus to summarize, Hadrian was a paranoid and untrusting man who believed in having multiple contingencies and that no number of contingencies were good enough. As such, the plans that had been derived by such a mind, had aspects that were not visible in a cursory glance but if one paid a little attention on the details then one would be astound by the complexity of the seemingly simple plan, after all devil was in the details.

As such, at first glance the plans seemed simple enough; its first stage was to find the replacement of Lord Black –which was not as easy as it sounded- and its second stage was killing Sirius Black –which was not as difficult as it sounded- for Sirius Black could not be left alive, his continued existence was the Achilles heel of their plan. No, Sirius Black could not be left alive.

But that was not what his mission was at the moment, no, Arcturus was at the moment, following the stage 1 of phase 5 –not that Arcturus knew what phase 5 was- and was looking for the replacement of Lord Black. And though it seemed exceedingly difficult at times, it was something on which their whole plan depended. As such, he continued his search.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

While Arcturus had been working on his mission and sweating buckets, Hadrian had been peacefully working through his life.

But that peace hadn't lasted long. As currently, Hadrian was coming back from his almost daily visit to the Longbottom Manor. Now, usually the thought of his friend's house brought a smile on his face but not today, today Hadrian grimaced.

Apparently the changes that he had made in the British society, though inconsequential to him, were not as inconsequential as he had originally thought them to be. As a result, there were changes in the society that he had not foreseen. He really hated Butterfly effect right now!

And at this time, he was grimacing due to one such result. He did not know what he had done, but apparently he had done something that had caused this new torturous situation to occur. Oh how he had shuddered at the news!

Elladora, after watching her husband spent himself tirelessly in between running the large family business and performing the wizengamot duties, had decided enough was enough and that Cygnus was spread way too thin. And as such she had decided to help.

Thus Elladora Greengrass, the cold and beautiful potions master, had decided to lend a hand in managing the numerous shops that belonged to the Greengrass family. That in its self was not something horrifying, no, what was horrifying was the repercussion of that seemingly simple decision.

Now that both Cygnus and Elladora were working, there was no one to look after the children; after all, they just couldn't leave the girls to the house elves. The poor creatures would go spare in between the contradictory orders that the girls were sure to give and besides, that was just poor parenting.

Now that they weren't willing to let the elves raise their children and since Augusta had charge their children's age, they had asked Augusta to look after Daphne and Astoria. It had seemed simple enough to them, but what had seemed simple to them was what had Hadrian cursing like a sailor.

And Augusta, who had seen the effect of Hadrian's friendship on her shy heir, had agreed; hoping that more friends might bring Neville even more out of his shell. Oh how Hadrian cursed Augusta for that!

And as such, the bratty princess known as Daphne and the little Astoria will soon become one of his constant companions. Hadrian grimaced but unfortunately there was nothing he could do counteract the situation.

Reaching number #4, Hadrian silently crept to his room. Dudley was not back from his boxing classes yet and he wanted to avoid Petunia, not because she would ask him questions, no, but because he knew that she did not like his presence and that she felt uncomfortable around him –subtle use of leglimency had told him that- and the least he could do was to let the woman be comfortable in her own home.

Arriving in his room, Hadrian found Virgo basking in the warmth of the fire and asked the question that he daily asked her. _"Anything?"_ He asked irritably. It should have happened till now!

The massive snake turned to look at its master and replied, _"…bony…"_

_"A fire crab of all things!"_ Hadrian answered back, a little frustrated. The fire being highly magical kept sprouting magical creatures from time to time, which Virgo kept eating. And as a result of this highly magical diet, Virgo had gained quiet some length.

_"Well!" _Hadrian sighed as he sat on his bed_. "We can't do anything but wait, now can we?"_

Looking around the room, his eyes fell on the roaring fire and he frowned. Hadn't he bought the firewood for 5 months for the basin? Well, that meant a letter to Borgin.

Grimacing at the thought, Hadrian picked up a parchment and wrote down his letter, it would not do to write it on paper, no, that would scream muggle from miles away and that would not gain him any favors.

With letter written and folded, Hadrian counted 21 galleons and put them in a pouch. With that done, he tied both the items to Leo's leg and let the bird do its work.

Hadrian had not expected it take this long, the second stage of phase 4 was supposed to take a maximum of 5 months and that too had been a very long stretch. He frowned and hoped that 7 more months were long enough, for he did not like corresponding with the lecherous man that was Borgin.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

**Three Months Later**

Months had passed since anything new had happened in Hadrian's life and in his plans. None of his plans should have taken this long. For one thing, Hadrian had known when trigger would happen for Phase 6. And it should have triggered by now. But no, no it had not happened. Something that he had done had changed the dynamics and as a result, the triggering hadn't happened. Not for the first time, Hadrian cursed the butterfly effect.

Situation with 'It' of phase 4 was similar, as he knew for a fact that it did not take this long to happen.

And same was the case with Arcturus. The old pureblood should have found what he had been searching for by now. After all, how hard was it to find a pureblood family that had lost its fortune some forty to fifty years ago? Not that hard if someone was guessing.

Hadrian sighed and began reviewing his plans. Out of all his plans, one was complete, another half complete and the rest were either idle or needed little to no attention from him.

Irritated at the thought, Hadrian began making a list of all his plans and their respective status. And what he found did not please him, not one bit.

Phase Description Status Notes on Status

Phase 1 - Chaos at world level - Idle - Nothing new needed

Phase 2 - Chaos in Ministry of Magic - Idle - Nothing new needed

Phase 2.a - Befriending Neville - Completed - Finished

Phase 3 - Entering Muggle Business - Under Progress - Nothing new needed from him

Phase 4.1 - Recreate ancient flame of power. - Completed - Finished

Phase 4.2 - 'It' - Idle - Depends on Factors Unknown

Phase 5.1 - Finding replacement of Lord Black - Under Progress - Depends on Arcturus

Phase 5.2 - Killing Sirius - Idle - Depends on Phase 5.1

Phase 6 - Rift of muggle world from Fates plan - Idle - Depends on Trigger

Hadrian scowled as he gave his list a once over. It was not going well, not at all. And as such, he needed help. And not just any help, he needed help from Fates of all people; he needed luck on his side.

Hadrian grimaced at the thought. Never in his life would he get help from the trinity of Bitches (yes bitches with a capital B). They would rather screw him over than help him. He was sure that Fates would never ever help him willingly.

The last thought struck a chord in his brain and a gleeful smile forced its way on Hadrian's face. The Bitches would never help him willingly, but who needed them to be willing to get their help; he could force their Hand.

Smirking, Hadrian picked up a random bottle of polyjuice and downed it in one go. The effects were immediate, after all, this batch was one of his creations. (Hadrian had begun making his own potions when his constantly buying polyjuice had began to attract attention.) With his guise in place, Hadrian left for Diagon alley.

Tom barely glanced at the stranger before the old bartender went back to his work. After all, hundreds of witches and wizards crossed the barrier to go to the magical alley daily and Tom did not know everyone of them, though he knew most.

Once in the alley, Hadrian wasted no time and made way directly for Knockturn alley or more specifically, to Borgin and Burkes.

Reaching the shop, Hadrian analyzed it for a moment before entering and found it as gloomy as always and giving off an aura of a dilapidated shack that was haunted half the time. Hadrian ignored it all and entered the shop. Reaching the front desk, he placed a galleon without preamble in front of the lecherous man sitting behind the counter named Borgin.

Borgin picked up the coin and bit into it, only to feel goblin magic repelling his teeth. The shopkeeper nodded as he pocketed the coin and raised an eyebrow.

Hadrian, irritated at the status of his plans and not wanting to spend any more time in the shop than he had to, ordered his purchase as quickly as possible, a potion by the name of Felix Felicus.

Borgin raised an eyebrow at the order but did not comment instead the lecherous man simply waved his wand and summoned a vial of pinkish fluid.

Hadrian took the bottle and uncorked it to check for the authenticity of the potion. Slowly, drop by drop the potion began to float out of the vial, and began to move in a spiral, rising above the vial ever so slowly.

Satisfied, he replaced the cork and asked for the price. It was a credit to the power of the potion that Hadrian paid 75 Galleons without any question; 75 Galleon thought a large sum, was not much for a bottle of literal liquid luck and Hadrian was getting desperate, after all.

Leaving the infamous alley and then Leaky Cauldron, Hadrian entered muggle London.

Finding a dark alley, Hadrian downed the potion and began wishing for all his stalled plans to succeed.

While here Hadrian was happily wishing for the success of his plans, in another place and another dimension, a being was cursing as loudly as the being could. This being's vocabulary, at the moment, could make a sailor blush; such was this being's irritation at Hadrian's foolish decision.

Now, the thing to be curious about was that this being was neither Fate nor Thantos but was interested in Hadrian all the same or at times even more so. And as such when Hadrian foolishly decided to drink the potion that would literally grant the human luck, the being cursed the mortal at his idiocy. Did the fool not know that drinking Felix Felicus would attract the attention of Fates faster that a bull charging at a red flag?

The being sighed, and again like the last time, hid Hadrian's foolish mistake from the heavenly trinity.

Back in human dimension, Hadrian –oblivious to just how foolish his mistake was and how big of a headache he had caused to a certain curious being- wished for his plans to succeed.

He waited for a few moments and was rewarded with distinct feeling of his charm setting off, the trigger for phase 6.

Hadrian smiled and apparated to the sole area that was not warded in the heavily guarded muggle place that was his destination.

Materializing in the broom cupboard, Hadrian quickly casted disillusionment and notice-me-not charms on himself.

Satisfied that the charms would hold for now, Hadrian left the storage cupboard and headed for the room from where he felt that the trigger had been activated. A few moments later, Hadrian found what he was searching for and like the last time this time too his destination was being guarded by two funnily** dressed men, who Hadrian ignored as he calmly walked into the room.

Entering the room, the first thing that Hadrian did was to cast a silencing charm on the room, he did not want the occupants of the room to call in the guards, after all. Hadrian smiled as he felt the disillusionment charm shudder before steadying itself under the stress of the new spell; it was liquid that luck had saved his spell from failing.

Believing that it would do for now, Hadrian turned his attention to the occupants of the room. A man and a woman, a couple by the looks of it, were staring open mouthed at the child that had toys levitating around it, the child too looked a little baffled.

Hadrian smiled at the scene. The little family didn't even know just how much their lives where going to change.

And that was true, their lives where going to change. Hadrian had been initially undecided about what to do with this family, he had been confused but finally he had decided to give the family a choice that had not been offered to them by the ministry last time. In the previous timeline, this child's magic had been bound and the family's memory erased as per the Fudge's order without even consulting the child's parents.

But that would not happen this time; this time Hadrian would give this family a choice, the choice of either keeping or binding the magic of their almost 6 year old son. And if they decided to keep the child's magic, then he knew that the situation would attract Fates attention but that would happen when the child started Hogwarts, not now and as such Hadrian would deal with it then.

Though it may have been a foolish mistake to wait till the child reached Hogwarts to deal with Fates but Hadrian was pretty sure that by the time this child's acceptance letter from Hogwarts arrived, his cover would have already been blown. As such, he let the matter be.

Now, all Hadrian had to do was wait; wait for the Ministry Oblivators to get the order from the Minister (Fudge the idiot) and arrive here, ready to oblivate the hell out of this family. Hadrian smiled, not that he'll let that happen. And sure as hell, 2 disillusioned men came rushing in a few moments later.

Hadrian smiled gleefully and moved quickly. He snatched the wand from the oblivator that was behind of the two and cancelled his disillusionment charm before the oblivator knew what was happening.

The family, having had experience of always being on guard noticed the man immediately but before they could call for help, a red light smacked into the now visible man, causing him to fall down, stunned. The other ministry oblivator who had been too surprised to act, by now caught up with the fact that someone magical was here and instantly became alert, his eyes wary.

Not that it helped him much as Hadrian cancelled his disillusionment charm too. After all, Ministry trained these men to oblivate, not to fight. The useless bunch of incompetents.

Panicking, the second oblivator frantically tried to find the source of the attacks but all his efforts were for naught as he too was hit by a red light and fell down stunned.

The family, who had been till now too stunned to act, came out of their disbelief and began calling the guards. But all their efforts were in vain due to Hadrian's silencing charm.

Not wanting them to panic anymore than necessary, Hadrian hit the family with cheering charms, hoping that it would help. After all, one can not panic and be cheery at the same time

Satisfied that the family won't start screaming bloody murder when they saw him, Hadrian cancelled the notice-me-not and slowly dissolved the disillusionment charm.

Thus as a result, the family of four but currently three saw him materializing slowly (or fading in, if one prefers that) in front of their eyes.

"Sorry for the excitement." Hadrian said as he smiled at their silence and disbelief, "But sometimes, Force is necessary." He finished and bowed as if a magician receiving applause.

The woman stepped back in fear; after all, for all they knew, Hadrian had just killed 2 men without any thought or remorse. The man on the other had hand tried to sneak his hand in his pocket to trigger an alarm that would send a distress signal, the key here word being tried.

Hadrian saw what the man was doing and smiled as he said, "I wouldn't do that, if I were you." And then he added as an afterthought. "Your Highness."

The man, who many knew as Prince Charles Prince of Wales, raised an eyebrow at that and asked, "And why not?"

"Because I am not your enemy here." Hadrian said calmly before pointing as the fallen men, "These were."

"A…Are they dead?" The woman, who many knew as Princess Diana, asked.

"Of course not, your highness." Hadrian said as he turned towards her, "I wouldn't do that in front of a child. They are merely stunned."

As if the answer calmed her down a little, she composed herself and nodded. Prince Charles on the other hand was not as calmed easily and asked, "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Before I answer that, let me take care of these two." Hadrian answered as he pointed at the two oblivators.

When the royal couple nodded, Hadrian silently cast 'renervate' on one of the two oblivators and then casted silent 'Imperius' on him. He ordered the imperiusied oblivator to erase the memory of the other oblivator and replace it with the one in which they changed the memory of the royals successfully and when they turned to return they stumbled into one another and fell. That done, Hadrian then made the oblivator stun himself, Hadrian was, after all, conserving his magic.

He repeated the process on the second oblivator before making the oblivator stun himself.

Hadrian then casted disillusionment charm on both the wizards and woke them up as he hid in the bathroom. The two oblivators woke up a little groggy but went back on their way. The bunch of incompetent fools.

When the oblivators where finally gone, Hadrian came out of the Bathroom and said, "Where were we?" Hadrian said as he tried to remember. "Ah yes."

"I am a wizard." Hadrian announced and read the disbelief on the royal couple's faces. "And I am here to tell you, that so is your eldest son. Prince William."

"A Wizard? Really?" Princess Diana asked in disbelief, apparently now much more composed. "Speak truth or you'll be rotting away in jail before you know it." She threatened with the fury of a mother protecting her child. After all, she had not reacted this strongly until he had mentioned her son. The woman was very protective of her children; that was for sure.

"I assure you, I'll not be rotting anywhere anytime soon." Hadrian said as he smiled serenely at her, distressing the couple. "But if three men materializing out of nowhere was not a strong enough demonstration, then perhaps this would help." He said as he transfigured one of the child's toys into a puppy. The transfigured animal yipped loudly and began chasing its tail, causing the child to giggle happily.

The couple stared in disbelief at the animal before turning to Harry and staring at him in disbelief. Hadrian smiled and asked, "Do you anymore proof?"

The woman just shook her head but the man still watched with incredulity visible in his eyes. Hadrian sighed, that transfiguration had taken too much out of him but still, he had to convince the parents that their child was indeed magical.

He asked for a strand of hair from the crown prince's head. The royal couple looked at each other confused but seeing no harm, they granted the request.

Hadrian showed the royal family the strand of hair and took out his flask of polyjuice that he always kept with him for emergencies. He dropped the hair into the flask before taking a sip from it.

In front of the three royals, Hadrian began to change. His skin began to bubble and his flesh began to melt as it shifted and soon where earlier was sitting an unknown man, now sat an exact copy of Prince Charles.

"Cool!" A high pitched voice of the little Prince William came out of nowhere. While the original Prince Charles spluttered in indignation and Princess Diana watched in amazement.

"Now, if I have your attention and your faith," Hadrian said as he waited for them to deny his statement before continuing, "I'll explain the purpose of my visit."

When all three of them nodded, Hadrian began his explanation. Hadrian talked about magical world for good three hours –he took a sip from his flask every time an hour was about to end- while the Prince and Princess kept asking questions in between.

After his long explanation he finally fell quiet, causing Princess Diana to ask "Is that all?"

Hadrian stared at the royal couple and grimaced before answering, "No your highness. It isn't all."

"But before I continue, I wish to know what your choice is." He continued as the woman raised an eyebrow at his answer. "I do not wish to waste my time your highness. I am quite busy."

The couple seemed annoyed at his answer as they frowned but asked for a few moments alone to discuss the matter. Hadrian in his impudence, pointed towards the Bathroom, suggesting them that they move since he won't.

The prince scowled at Hadrian's arrogance and disrespect but moved none the less. After all, if what the man had said was true then he could very well turn him into a toad.

A few moments later, the royal family emerged and told their decision. They did not want to suppress anything that their son was gifted with. Though it seemed as more of a decision of the Princess rather than the Prince.

Hadrian nodded and replied, "I apologize for my behavior earlier but I was just behaving as any other wizard would behave towards British Royalty." He finished as he eyed them carefully. "With apathy."

Both the prince and the princess raised their eyebrows at that but it was the prince who vocalized their thoughts. "What?" He asked in astonishment.

"Yes." Hadrian answered. "When the Magical society separated itself from muggles, they separated from the crown too. Crown does not rule magical Britain, Ministry does." He paused for that to sink in before he continued, "Magical and muggle Britain though share same space but are two different countries."

"What?" It was Princess Dianna who asked this time.

"Yes." Hadrian again repeated. "Most muggleborns consider Magical Britain as Muggle Britain with magic added into the mix. They could not be more wrong. Magical Britain and Muggle Britain only share two things in common, land and language. And nothing else."

To emphasize the point he continued, "Their culture is entirely different, their traditions are entirely different, their thinking is entirely different, their way of dressing is completely different and even their food is somewhat different."

"As such, when the prince goes to Hogwarts, you'll be effectively sending him to another country." Hadrian said before continuing, "Say something like Japan." Then he added as an afterthought, "Minus the language barrier of course."

"Surely not!" Princess said in surprise. "You must be exaggerating."

"I assure you I am not." Hadrian replied as he smiled. "We are that different. For instance, when muggles mostly celebrate Christmas, we mostly celebrate Yule. Where Muggles mostly follow the religions like Christianity and such, we follow the Olde Religion, the old ways."

It would take the royal couple sometime before they would accept the idea and even some more time before they got accustomed to it, but eventually they would come around.

"Is there something else?" The prince asked tiredly causing Hadrian to grin, "One last thing, Your Highness." His answer caused a groan to erupt from Prince Charles throat though Princess Dianna chuckled lightly.

"And what would that be?" The Crown Prince asked irritably.

"Just impressing upon you that you can't talk about it. Not to anyone." Hadrian answered seriously. "No matter what, you must abide by the Statue of Secrecy." The royal couple frowned but both of them nodded.

"Also the transition between the two different worlds will be difficult for the little Prince." Hadrian continued, "As Such, if you are willing, I can arrange for him to mingle with other magical children."

The couple began to nod in agreement but Hadrian spoke up, "But it won't be here." And the couple stopped nodding. "Think about it, before you refuse your highness. It's not a hasty decision."

The royal couple looked thoughtful and Hadrian nodded at that. He got up and touched Princess Diana's ring as he muttered some spell before he said, "Whenever you need to call me just say, 'Bird's nest and owl's fall, together they are tall.' And I'll know of your call."

"Please know, and I mean no disrespect, but I will not be able to always answer your call." He said and eyed the couple before gave his warning, "Also, I have done many illegal things to tell you all these things; do not make me regret my decision. As such, do not try to set me up, I'll know of your treachery and then you'll regret your decision." He finished ominously.

He shook hands with all the three members and simultaneously casted a compulsion for good measure –Hadrian was paranoid like that- on all three to not talk about their meeting and magic outside of their family and also to not to betray him by setting him up.

His work now complete, he made to leave and casted on himself the disillusionment and notice-me-not charm. His magic strained after the day, protested in defiance but yielded.

He stopped at the door and said, "And yes, please make sure that you leave after the shift of the guards has changed, Your highness. It would not do for them to see Prince Charles leave the room twice, now would it?" With that Hadrian cancelled the silencing charm on the room and left the Royal Palace as unnoticed as he had came.

-o0o0o00o0o0o-

Hadrian returned to Privet drive with a smile on his face. Using Felix Felicus had been a brilliant idea, it had restarted one of his stalled plans and soon –Hadrian hoped- it would help with others too. He'd have to suggest it to Arcturus; the poor fellow sure needed any and all the help that he could get, he had been on this search for quite some while, after all.

Happy that at least one of his plans had moved forward, Hadrian walked up to number #4 with a skip in his steps. All the while, he wished for the second part of Phase 4 to start, hoping that Felix Felicus would kick start it too.

He arrived at the Dursley residence and not wanting to attract attention, silently made way for his room. His room was hot, overly so. Stepping into the room felt like stepping into Caribbean in the middle of the summer, such was the temperature of his room.

Sweating profusely, Hadrian entered the room and searched for the only being that could answer his questions. His trained eyes found Virgo lazing around the blazing inferno that resided in the fire basin, the Ice potion that she had taken protecting her from the heat. _"Virgo?"_ He asked, the creature's tensed attitude surprising him a little.

The massive snake turned its head towards its owner and hissed a single word,_ "…It…"_

A sad smile replaced the casual grin on Hadrian's face after hearing the answer. It was about time as well, he had waited long enough.

The inferno blazed one last time before it settled back to its natural dull roar, its flames no longer crashing on the boundary of the fire basin and its heat no longer pervading every corner of the room. As such the temperature of the room fell and returned back to its normal temperature.

But that was not all that had happened, no, out of this soothed fire emerged something. It was a reptile, a creature of fire; neither powerful nor long lived, yet majestic in its appearance. The creature was easily as long as Virgo herself and its body seemed to be made of burned out wood. It skin was an odd color of ash grey and was marked with orange, red and silver strips, after the color of its creator fire. This reptile was none other than the Ashwinder.

Hadrian waited with baited breath and so did Virgo, this was the moment that they had been waiting for, the moment of truth.

The mindless creature that was the ashwinder, searched for the darkest areas of the room –leaving behind a trail of ash as it slithered- the hidden spots to lay its eggs. For that was what this creature existed for, the sole reason that this creature came into being, to lay its eggs. Such was the nature of fire, it lived to achieve a goal and once its objective was reached, it died. It did not matter what the objective was, but mostly, fire existed to burn out its creator, that was usually its aim and its goal.

The creature roamed the entire room once, laying its eggs as it did so before it returned to its creator. The creature once back in the depth and warmth of the magical fire began to dissolve. Its massive body began to erode as the flames of its creator licked it. The ash coloring turned to actual ash and slithered off of the dying creature's body. And soon, where once had rested a massive serpent, now laid nothing but ash.

Now, if it had been anyone but Hadrian, they would have collected the eggs as fast as they could and frozen them, not taking the risk of burning the house down due to their lethargy. But Hadrian was not just anyone; Hadrian was someone who had been waiting for the ashwinder to lay its eggs.

As such, the first thing that Hadrian did was drinking the Ice potion. Though the eggs might not be hot enough yet to burn the house down, they would be hot enough to burn his hands. The potion went down his throat and hit his stomach like a gust of winter itself. Hadrian shuddered at feeling and began collecting the eggs diligently; for if even one was left, it could burn down the house. And Hadrian did not want that, now did he?

Hadrian and Virgo collected seven grey eggs, from all over the room and Hadrian grinned. Seven was a very powerful number.

All the eggs in hand, Hadrian summoned the Dragon's eggshell that he had brought from Borgin and placed the eggs inside the empty shell. Hadrian then made a cut across his vein on his forearm and let his blood fill the rest of the space within the eggshell. When the egg was filled to the brim with his blood, he healed his hand before replacing the broken part of the shell and casting a repairing spell. The magic worked and the Egg repaired itself, the result looking as if it had never ever hatched before.

Satisfied, Hadrian downed a blood replenisher potion before levitating the now patched up Dragon's egg and placing it inside the fire basin, in the middle of the fire.

His work done, Hadrian turned towards Virgo. He looked at the massive snake with sadness evident in his eyes. He had, after all, gotten used to the creature's presence, its quirky personality and its half answers. Hadrian was going to miss the massive snake.

But Hadrian could not let his emotions rule his decisions. He had bought Virgo for a purpose after all. He had asked for a King Cobra for a very specific purpose, for King Cobra was the only snake in the world that created a nest for its eggs. It was the only snake that mothered its eggs.

And that was what Hadrian had needed, hadn't he? Willing sacrifice of a mother snake.

Hadrian wanted to laugh at the callousness of it all but such was the need of the ritual to create a Naag, the ancient serpent whose power was second to none but the basilisk itself.

With wet eyes, Hadrian leaned down and kissed the hood of the massive Cobra. _"Rest in peace, O Mother."_ Hadrian muttered solemnly, _"Rest in peace."_

The snake stared at its owner with a sense of determination and replied, its answer surprisingly coherent. "…Wise…ones…will…come…"

Those were the same words that Virgo had said when Hadrian had bought the snake. It had not made sense to him then but it did make some sense now. For the old Cobra, creation of a snake that her entire race considered Wise was a reason worthy enough of her sacrificing her life. And thus she had agreed.

With that the massive snake slithered into the fire, unhurt. The Ice potion had saved Virgo from the heat, but the potion could never stand against the power of those flames. Virgo did not have much time.

Entering the fire, the massive snake slithered in circles around the egg, wrapping its body all across the egg, covering it up more and more with every loop. And soon no part of egg was visible; Virgo had hidden the egg within her wraps as a mother protecting her child from physical harm, Virgo protected the egg from the burning flames.

And as Hadrian knew would happen, the Ice potion failed against the might of those flames. Virgo screamed out a hissed scream as the fire ran over her body, analyzing her, judging her for what she had done and what she had wanted to do, her aim and her goals.

A tear fell from Hadrian's eyes after hearing Virgo's scream but there was nothing he could do. He had told the snake what he his objectives were and the snake had agreed to help. She had agreed to help bring a Naag in the world and to sacrifice her life in the process. Virgo may not have been the smartest one out there but like every other being she had a sense of self preservation. And yet she had agreed. Hadrian could only hope that the fire judged her worthy.

He watched as the hissed screams from Virgo fell silent and the snake's body began to turn grey. Hadrian's heart lurched once in its place, the fire was rendering its judgment, its vicious, merciless and cold judgment.

Hadrian prayed to any and all the deities, he prayed that fire judged Virgo worthy, that it found Virgo's goal acceptable.

He watched as the graying increased in Virgo's skin and began to spread all across the snake's body. Hadrian's breath hitched as the graying covered the entire length of the snake's body. And then Virgo stopped moving, her body turned to stone and her sacrifice finalized. He sighed in grief and in relief; the fire had judged the snake worthy.

He did not know -and neither did he want to know- whether Felix Felicus had helped him in achieving his goal or not, that whether the potion had tipped the scales in his favor or not. He did not want to know the answer of that question. He felt the answer will somehow make Virgo's sacrifice worthless or less meaningful. And that he would not, could not accept.

He knew he was being irrational and childish, that nothing could diminish the worth of Virgo's sacrifice, but he held to his belief; he was not a complete adult after all, there was a part of him that was an almost eight year old boy.

As such he chose to ignore the information he had on the fire. If he had given it a little more thought then he would have found that nothing could affect the nature of the fire, nothing could alter its judgment. This fire was the most impartial judge of all.

Saddled with grief and sense of loss, both were emotions that he had not expected to feel, Hadrian fell on his bed. Now all Hadrian that had to do, was wait for 3 months. For within three months the Dragon's egg would hatch, giving birth to the first Naag in several millennia's.

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* I am not sure how much of a role Monarch plays in the British Government and policy making and as such, I am assuming that their role is not all that important.

** Same case as above, I do not have much idea about the guard of the Royal family and as such, I am assuming the details.

A/N: Is it your highness or you're highness, the correct way of addressing the crown prince and his family?

Also I am looking for a **beta**, if anybody's interested, feel free to PM me.

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**IMPORTANT**: Also those who review, get a sneak-peak in the next chapter, just like last time. So…

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